I had a great 26th birthday!

I just wanna thank everyone for a terrific birthday last Saturday (April 25, 2009). It was a great time and I think my best birthday yet (if not one of the best :). After gettin' up in the mornin', I headed over to Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup (Howard County), Maryland for the inaugural Bollman Bridge Elementary School Tech Trot 5K. The course was fairly challenging, getting a bit hilly towards the middle, but I've definitely run on harder courses. The course was pretty much an out-and-back course starting and ending out in front of Bollman Bridge Elementary School (where I spent my last year of preschool at before kindergarten) and Patuxent Valley Middle School (where I attended the sixth and seventh grade, which were some rougher years for me).
The race started around the flat campus of the two schools and even though there was a bit of confusion about where to turn at the very beginning, we were able to follow the arrows left around a bit of Patuxent Valley MS and quickly pick up the bike path that runs behind it. This bike path is well shaded (which I appreciated on this rather muggy morning) and it had a few rolling hills that made it a challenging part of the race (not to mention knowing that we would have to run over it towards the end of the race coming back to the school). After this path with lightly rolling hills, we emerged in the Savage Park in Savage, Maryland, and for a very brief period, we ran on the grass behind this backstop on a baseball diamond while a baseball game with younger kids was going on (and I dunno if people watching the game were cheering us runners on or the ballgame, hahaha :)- Shortly after running through this small section of Savage Park, we were back in this neighborhood and I ran through the first mile in about 6:32. I had a feeling that that first mile was kinda long 'cause I felt like I was running a lot harder than a 6:32-mile, and usually I run a lot faster the first mile of a 5K race. Then again, I'll admit that I did have to pee from the start of the race, so that may have slowed me up, but by the time I got ot the one-mile mark, it did not seem to affect me that much. If anything, it promted me to want to finish the race as soon as possible so I could find a bathroom after.

Well, after going through the first mile in the shaded neighborhood, we came to this steady uphill, the one that I knew was back on this course and I knew it was probably going to be the biggest hill on the course. I was right, but fortunately it did not seem as hard as I thought it would be. I was surprised that it was over with sooner than I had thought. However, I was feeling a bit burdened by the heat and I wanted the race to be over very soon. After getting to the top of the hill, I ran in a rectangular loop (if that makes any geometrical sense) around this nice neighborhood in Jessup or Savage (it was probably Savage, because towards the end of this loop, I ran right by the Savage Volunteer Fire Company). After the loop, I made a left to go back down what I saw as the biggest hill on the course. Though, I did not go all the way down the hill this time, but made a right on this other streeet before I reached the bottom, as that was where the course marshal was pointing. Shortly after making that right turn I went through the two-mile mark in about 12:25. Now that was more like it; I felt like at the pace I was going, that I was going hard enough to run a time like that for two miles. I figured that that first mile was measured a bit long, 'cause if it was correct, that would have meant that I dropped about 5:53 that second mile, and I felt like maybe I sped up just a little bit at best, but certainly not that much.

All that math aside, I was grateful that I had only a little over a mile to go at this point at the most. I enjoyed the course and scenery, but I found the heat and the hills grueling enough to want me to have the whole thing over with. I was praying that God would help me maintain around the time I ran back through that small grassy portion of the Savage Park as the baseball game was going. As I got back on the paths that would no doubt prove challenging because of the rolling hills, I remembered what Kay (my girlfriend) told me not to worry about how well I did, whether I won or not, that she liked me anyway. She liked me for me and not how well I could run. To me that meant a lot, 'cause I knew no matter how well I fared at this race, she would still like me. That put a smile on my face as I made a right turn on the paths that would take me back to the schools near the finish line and I felt my pace pick up. At this point, I had taken the lead in the race earlier on within the first mile, and I felt that I was ahead by a fairly significant amount. Though, I knew no matter what the outcome of this race would be, I knew God loves me unconditionally and that my girlfriend (who was not there at the race herself) would still be happy for me and be there for me! That helped keep my spirits high as I ran up and down the rolling hills (which at least were in the shae) along the bikepath. Off to my right I saw more sunlight, which meant I was nearing the fields behind Patuxent Valley Middle School and Bollman Bridge Elementary School. I knew I was almost there.

I ran out fo the woods along the path, getting closer to Patuxent Valley Middle School where I went to middle school. As I tried to pick it up, I ran past this one young gentleman jogging/running along listening to his I-Pod or something like that. At this point, I figured I had about less than half-a-mile to go. The path climbed uphill a bit steadily before connecting with the parking lot, and I was relieved that this was the last hill on the course. Coming off the path I glanced back, and not that far behind me on the path, I caught a glimpse of someone in a dark colored singlet, and I thought for a moment it was one of those fast-looking high school runners I had seen at the start of the race (and I know from experience those younger runners can really put on a strong kick at the end). With that in mind, I bolted across the parking lot along the side of Patuxent Valley Middle School, through the three-mile mark in 18:51, and then angled to the right in front of the school. Up ahead, I saw the front of Bollman Bridge Elementary School and a lot of people standing there, cheering me on at the finish line. I continued to run hard across the parking lot in front of Patuxent Valley Middle School to the finish line in front of Bollman Bridge Elementary school, which I crossed in 19:20. I was so happy that I got through that race, won it, and not only that won it on my birthday. Not to brag, I guess I have the course/race record for the time being since it was the first time they had it. God is good and I certainly thanked Jesus out loud for getting me through. It was certainly not the hilliest course I've run, but I got some getting used to with this warmer weather in these spring and summer months, and that made it a little harder for me I think. After catching my breath, I turned around to cheer other runners on. I was expecting to see one of the high school runners coming around the corner of Patuxent Valley Middle School to finish, however, I did not see them, and I soon realized that person I saw on the bike paths who I thought was in the race was most likely the runner/jogger I had passed towards the end of the race who was listening to his I-Pod. Hahaha, I guess I psyched myself out extra!

The person who finished second, to my pleasant surprise, was my friend David, with the first female (a younger girl who I think was in high school), not very far behind. David finished pretty well and has been running well considering that he is doing more races than normal and was training for a half marathon. David and I used to hang out quite a bit in elementary school recess, but then enver saw each other after we graduated from Atholton Elementary School in 1995, but back in the summer of 2004, we met at a Centennial One-Mile Fun Run (that actually did not end up occurring that evening) in Ellicott City (Howard County), MD, which is a series of rather hilly one-mile fun runs that the Howard County Striders are involved in. I recognized David and soon after we started catching up on a run we did, and after seeing each other at races more and talking over the internet via instant messenger, we became friends, and now I see him very often whenever I got to a Howard County Striders race (especially at their low-key weekly series races). What was really neat was that our elementary school physical education (P.E.) teacher from Atholton Elementary School moved over to teach P.E. at Bollman Bridge Elementary School over the years and she got to help out at this race. We even got a photo with her after the race; sort of an Atholton Elementary School reunion!

What a neat birthday present that was! And for the record, as long as the distance between three miles and 3.1 miles was measured accurately at the end of this race course, I had run that distance in under 30 seconds (and I don't think I have ever run from 3.0-to-3.1 miles in under 30 minutes before in a 5K race, and if I had, it has certainly been a long time)! So I was pretty happy about that too! I would not be surprised if this course was a bit long, at least with the first mile, but I still liked the course and if they have it again in the future, I would not mind making it back! I think I had wanted to get under 19:30 anyway, or actually maybe 19:00 I think, but I did not think it would be that hard to break 19:30. I guess it was a combination of the hills, heat, and possibly the course being a little longer than 5-kilometers (approximately 3.1 miles).

So that race got my birthday off to a nice start. Afterwards, I went to visit my parents and I think I mowed the lawn and helped some neighbors move a new jacuzzi in their backyard as well! Later that evening, my friend Walton and I went over to Edgewater (Anne Arundel County), MD to meet up with my brother, Kay, and some of my other friends for my birthday dinner at this really nice and classy seafood restaurant by the water called Yellowfin. I enjoyed the food, company, and the fact that if I had not already, I was eating in a unique restaurant in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, getting one more county in on my "Maryland Munch" quest to eat at a unique restaurant in every county in Maryland in my lifetime. We had a great time; it was great to see my friends; a lot of who already knew Kay. It was the first time we had celebrated my birthday as a couple, so that was indeed special :)

Afterwards, Walton and I drove home and by the time I got back to my place in Baltimore County, MD, I was pretty tuckered out from a fairly busy, yet terrific birthday. God really blessed it with so many wonderful experiences, memories, and people! Thank you all for reading and being very patient with me these past few months to update. I wish you all well and God's blessings, and I hope to see you all/talk to you all again :)

Running Events I have done as of Saturday, April 25, 2009

January

- Sunday, January 18, 2009 - "Inaugural" All-comers Indoor Track & Field Meet - Thomas Jefferson Community Center, Arlington (Arlington County), Virginia:

1). 1-mile race - 14th overall since some mile times run in other heats were faster than mine, (7th overall in the "Elite heat") - 5:26.7 (not bad considering my shoe came untied around half-way into the race :)

2). 800-meter race - 2nd overall - 2:17.78 (my best time in this event at this track venue and very well-paced too :)

3). 3,000 meter race - 15th overall (13th overall in the second heat) - 11:27.8 (I accidentally ran a lap extra and ran about 3,200 meters worth, and my 3,000 meter split was about 10:46, which would have put me at about 8th overall and 8th in this particular heat. This is also my best time-to-date for 3,000 meters at this track venue :)

4). Saturday, January 24, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #1 (5K) – King’s Landing Park, Huntingtown (Calvert County), Maryland – 2nd overall – 19:21

- Sunday, January 25, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

5). 1-mile race – 4th overall – 5:03

6). 400 meter race – 5th or 6th probably (second-to-last in heat) – 1:04ish (I think this was the first time since middle school I ran this race J )

7). 800 meter race – Not sure how I placed – 2:16/2:17ish; I couldn’t see my time on the clock clearly.

8). 200 meter race – 8th in the heat I was in and last place in heat - :41 (my first time since middle school running this race J)

February

- Sunday, February 1, 2009 – Prince George’s Sports and Learning Complex All-Comers’ Showcase Indoor Track & Field Meet – Landover (Prince George’s County), MD:

9). 1-mile race – 4th overall - 5:03.4 (best 1-mile time at this venue :)

10). 800 meter race – Open/Masters Heat Winner – 2:12.7 (best time at this venue :)

11). 3,200 meter race – 11:16 (and 10:37 for the 3,000 meter split, both 3K and 3,200 meter times are personal best times at this venue J)

12). Saturday, February 7, 2009 – Inaugural Chesapeake Bay Running Club Trail Run #2 (Four-Miler) – Calvert Cliffs State Park, Lusby (Calvert County), MD – 3rd overall – 27:31

13). Sunday, February 8, 2009 – Bear Run Four-Miler – Pleasant Valley/Westminster (Carroll County), MD – 11th overall – 27:07

March

14). Sunday, March 8, 2009 – Howard County Striders “Operation Iceberg” (Winter Series) Race #8 : Thunder Hill Elementary School 2-miler – Columbia (Howard County), MD – 6th overall – 14:19

15). Saturday, March 14, 2009 – Run4Luck Four-Mile Run – Lancaster (Lancaster County), Pennsylvania – 40th overall – 26:51.55 (I ran negative splits here J)

16). Sunday, March 22, 2009 – Inaugural Break-in the Bypass 5K – Greenmount/Hampstead (Carroll County), MD -10th overall (9th overall if you don’t count the two-person relay team ahead of me) – 19:46 (clock), 19:42ish (watch)

17). Saturday, March 28, 2009 – 4th Annual Keep Your Colon Rollin’ 5K – Jefferson Patterson Park (new course and venue), Saint Leonard (Calvert County), MD – Winner (20-29 age group division winner as well) – 19:35

18). Sunday, March 29, 2009 – 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede 5K Run – Marriotts Ridge High School, Marriottsville (Howard County), MD – 11th overall (20-29 age group division winner) – 18:24.56 (great pacing and my first time running under a six-minute mile in a long while J)

19). Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 26th Annual Stillond-to-Betterton Tree Run – Started in Stillpond and ended at Betterton Beach (Kent County), MD – Winner – 22:42 (as of this race, I can say that I have won a race in all nine counties of Maryland’s Eastern Shore within my lifetime; praise God! J)

20). Saturday, April 18, 2009 – 4th Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day/”Into the Woods” Fun Run 5K – Ridgely (Caroline County), MD – Winner – 17:51 (my best time on the 5K loop there and very nice for me considering I fell during the second half of the race :).

21). Saturday, April 25, 2009 (my 26th birthday :) – 1st Annual Bollman Bridge Elementary School Tech Trot 5K – Jessup/Savage (Howard County), MD – Winner – 19:20 (course went by Bollman Bridge Elementary and Patuxent Valley Middle Schools, where I went to preschool for one year and 6th and 7th grade :)

Please check out the events I did in 2008:

http://ranineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2008/12/
not-much-longer-until-2009.html

Please check out the events I did in 2007:

http://runineverymdcounty.blogspot.com/2007/09/
i-ran-in-running-event-in-all-of.html

“Maryland Munch” – Unique restaurants I have eaten at within my lifetime throughout Maryland

Allegany County

Anne Arundel County

- Yellowfin – Saturday, April 25, 2009 – Edgewater – Classy seafood restaurant by the water of the South River in Anne Arundel County. It’s right off of Route 2 South before heading over the bridge that crosses the South River. I went here with my brother, girlfriend, and friends on my 26th birthday to celebrate it. I recall having a delicious brie dish with fruit. I enjoyed it, as well as the company and atmosphere. Interestingly enough, there was a wedding/wedding reception in this big room/hall downstairs. Seems like it was a nice place to have one!

Baltimore City

Baltimore County

- Taneytown Deli – Thursday, February 26, 2009 – Catonsville – Nice, quaint little deli and shop tucked away off of Highway 144/Old Frederick Road. One of my co-workers recommended this to me and I went there for my first time with “Maryland Munch” in mind. I had “The Catonsville” sandwich. I think there were slices of turkey breast and ham on it; it tasted pretty nice overall. I probably should have seen what I could have done about getting some cheese on it, but it was fine enough. I also had a black and white muffin and that made for a nice dessert.

Calvert County

Caroline County

Carroll County

- Sunday, May 25, 2008 – Reisterstown/Westminster area – My friends Erica and Josh got married at Life Point Church (which used to be called Carroll Community Church), and then we went to a local country club for a receptoin. The food and appetitzeres were delicious from what I could remember (I apologize, I don’t clearly remember much more). I remember more of the dancing and fun I had catching up with people and friends I had not seen in a while!

Cecil County

- Saturday, May 10, 2008 – North East – After Dr. Daniel Williams and I ran at the Inaugural Run for Reading 4K in Bayview/North East, MD, we went over to a small coffee shop around downtown North East to talk more. Dr. Williams was in town to see family and run that Run for Reading, because after he had run that race in Cecil County, he had completed his goal of running a race in every county along the Mason-Dixon Line. As I recall the coffee and small food (I think I had a cookie, pastry, or something like that) were pretty good. We enjoyed ourselves!

Charles County

Dorchester County

- Saturday, April 14, 2007 – Cambridge - After my friend John and I ran at the Healthy Kids Fun Run at the Dorchester YMCA and Sandy Spring Elementary School in Cambridge, we went out to eat at a small seafood restaurant around downtown Cambridge. This was at the very beginning phases of my first endeavor to run in a running event in every Maryland County in 2007, and that was certainly my first Dorchester County race. I recall they had some nice food here (And I can’t quite remember what it is I had; I wanna say it was some seafood, if not pizza). I don’t think I had much of an appetite after that run, but John and I enjoyed it nonetheless.

- Friday, May 2, 2008 – Vienna – I stopped by this small waterside deli/restaurant in Vienna (I forget what it is called), and I think I had a sub or some kind of a sandwich, and I think I had a soda too. I was headed to Salisbury (Wicomico County) to see some friends and do a race in Crisfield (Somerset County) that weekend, which was why I was over there in the first place. It seemed like a small, more intimate dining place and I remember enjoying the food!

Frederick County

- Sunday, January 15, 2006 – West New Market – My friends, Danny and Brianna, got married this day at this beautiful bed and breakfast place, where we also had the reception. I liked the food there (even though I can’t remember much of what I ate). I remember a very joyful wedding with great dancing, music, and people J

Garrett County

- Jubilee Diner – Saturday, July 26, 2008 – Friendsville – After my first time at Deep Creek Lake in Garrett County, MD for this inaugural Adventure Games 10K Trail Run at the Wisp Ski Resort in Deep Creek, I decided to head over to Friendsville, MD around where my friend Phil lives. I knew Phil was working that day, so I decicded to settle in for eating some place by myself. I came by this small, rather dimly lit diner called the Jubilee Diner. I remember the service was great and fairly personable. I know I had a milkshake, and I think I had a burger and fries. I enjoyed the meal quite well as I recall J

Harford County

Howard County

- Timbuktu – Winter of 1997 – Columbia area – I was in seventh grade when I went here for a friend’s Bar Mitzvah reception. I remember eating here and enjoying the company and hte food quite well. I rpobably would have liked the experience a bit more, but my brother and this other guy named Brett were spinning this circular thing around and the next thing I kenw, all these sauces were every on the talbe, and a lot of the people at the table thought it was me. Fortunately none of us got in serious trouble. Looking back, I think it’s funny that that is my most salient memory of eating there.

- Best Hunan – King’s Contrivance Shopping Center, Columbia – Back in my junior year of high school (2000-2001), my friends Brian and Nate would invite me to go with them, and this became our typical hang-out spot. It’s pretty well-lit, comfortable, and intimate. I like the crab rangoons, fried ice-cream on a banana (which I’m not sure if they have), sweet-and-sour soup, beef lo-mein, and some of their platters just to name a few. I still eat here with my friends and it pretty much got me into Chinese food more. I think the last time I ate here was back in 2008, and I probably had beef lo-mein or something like that.

- Forest Diner – 2007/2008 (winter time) – Ellicott City – I ate here with my friend from Salisbury University, Mike one evening. It was pretty small and I think it is closing (or has closed down). The food was pretty nice, and if I know myself, I probably got some burgers, frieds, and a soda (and possibly something for desert). Like typical diners, I enjoyed the food and the atmosphere was relatively quiet with images and set-up to resemble times as far back as at least the 1950’s. I may have eaten here with a couple of buddies from high school back around the August of 2003, or it might have been the Double T Diner nearby in Ellicott City.

- Bagel Bin (Wilde Lake Village Center location) – Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Bagel Bins are one of Columbia, MD’s “best kept secrets” and I would therefore consider it a more “unique” restaurant as it only seems to be in Columbia. I’ve eaten at various Bagel Bin locations (mainly the one at the King’s Contrivance Shopping Center near where I grew up), and I’m a fan of their bagel melts (with melted cheese) and their smoothies (which may only be out in the summer or warmer weather, I’m not quite sure). My most recent time I ate there was after a Saturday morning Bagel Run with the Howard County Striders where we start and end our running routes by the Wilde Lake Village Center’s Bagel Bin, and it was on Saturday, January 10, 2009. I can’t quite remember what I had there that morning, and I was there catching up with someone I hadn’t seen since middle school who was also doing the run. I’m pretty sure I bought a sports drink (like Gatorade) while I was there. I really like Bagel Bin and I definitely came to appreciate it when I would come home on breaks from college at Salisbury University.

Kent County

- Harbor Shack – Sunday, April 22, 2007 – Rock Hall – This was my first visit to Rock Hall, MD and the afternoon I came to visit, I went for a little run around the town and then decided to eat at the Harbor Shack right by the water. It was fairly noisy indoors, but it was not bad and it was to be expected since there was a bar there. It was a fairly nice day out and I think I actually ate outside (I think I bought some nice french fries).

- Durding’s – I think I stop in here every time I’ve been to Rock Hall (and I think I’ve been about five times now). This is a very quaint shop right around the downtown area and it’s a gift sohp with little antiques, gifts, and they sell food (they have nice ice cream as I recall from experience J)

- Java Rock Café – Friday, July 4, 2008 – Rock Hall – I came to Rock Hall on the Fourth of July to run in the 27th Annual Rock Hall Flat Five, and that was a fun race. It ended right by Java Rock Café, and afterwards I went there and got some coffee and possibly a little food too. It’s a pretty small and quaint coffee shop, and I do believe they sell some souvenirs (such as Rock Hall, MD hats and shirts). I had been there before, and that is my most recent memory of being there.

Montgomery County

- Vegetable Garden – May/June, 1999 – I was a freshman in high school when I went with my mom to meet up with my grandma, a relative, and my relative’s friend to celebrate my relative’s graduation (I think it was from high school, if not college). I don’t remember where in Montgomery County this is located, but I’m pretty sure it is in Montgomery County and that the menu is pretty much all vegetable stuff. I was not much into that kinda food at the time, and I rememmber being fairly sleepy from not getting much sleep in preparing for 9th grade finals, but I thought the food was pretty decent considering I don’t normally eat a lot of what was on their menu. Looking back, I’m glad I had the experience and that I got to eat and celebrate with family J

- 2007/2008 – I went with my friends, Aaron and Brian, to this Chinese restaurant in this shopping center in Olney (I think there’s a Cheeburger Cheeburger and a Shopper’s Food Warehouse there now). The Chinese food was pretty good here, and I think we ate here during the winter time. I think I had some beef low-mein. I’ll venture to say that I think when I was in seventh grade, I went to this same place around the winter/early spring of 1997 to get some carry-out from this restaurant. It looks a bit small on the outside, but on the inside it seems a bit more spacious and I’d say it is a more upper class restaurant (then again, I have not had all that much experience with ritzy restaurants).

Prince George’s County

- Don Pablo’s – Summer of 1997 – Laurel area – I remember going here when some relatives from out-of-town were visiting, and I think it was a week day evening. I can’t quite remember what I got, but if I know me and if I knew me back then, it was probably a quesadilla, a taco, or something similar (and I probably had a root beer or some kinda soda to go with it). Great food as I recall, and then again, I usually like just about all Mexican food.

- Silver Diner – Sunday, August 31, 2008 – Laurel – I went with my friends Amy, Kseniya, and Walton to eat here after a fun afternoon and evening at the Six Flags around the Largo area of Prince George’s County. I did not have much of an appetite after all of those rides, and I wanted to take it easy on my stomach, ‘cause I knew I wanted to do the 5th Annual Labor Day 5K Rogue Race the next day in Eldersburg (Carroll County), MD. I think I just got some nice soup and a soda, and possibly more (maybe a desert too).

Queen Anne’s County

Saint Mary’s County

Somerset County

Talbot County

Washington County

- Gracie’s Place – Saturday, March 14, 2009 – I went to the Hagerstown, Maryland location on my way back from running the Run4Luck Four-Mile run in Lancaster County, PA and from visiting Centralia, PA. I ordered a chef sald and thought that I got a lot for about four bucks. It was a great deal, as well as a small, yet very friendly and personalble atmosphere with the help of the kind employees that were there. I may have gotten one or two things on the side, I can’t quite remember. I may go back again if I’m in town J)

Wicomico County

- Hunan Palace – March/April of 2005 – Fruitland – My friend Suzanne and I ate at Hunan Palace; this really nice Chinese restaurant just outside of Salisbury (Wicomico County). Going to school locally at Salisbury University and recently getting a car on campus, I felt like I could “stretch my legs” a bit and check out some of the places around town more. I’m glad we chose this. Even though my stomach was not feeling the best while I was there (which I don’t think had anything to do with the food), I thought it was a great restuarant. If I know me, I probably got some beef lo-mein or something similar.

- Lighthouse Diner II – Salisbury – I’ve been here many of times, and their prices are great for the breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods that they have. I like their hot chocolate, pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, chicken soups, and quite a few of their other menu items to name a few. Usually when I go back to visit with friends in Salisbury, a visit here is in order. I wanna say that probably my most recent time here was around Saturday, December 13, 2008 (at least that was the last time I was in town). My friends and I noticed that it was called Lighthouse Diner II, and we sorta have a joke among us to keep our eyes out for the first Lighthouse Diner.

Worcester County

Next race for me should be on my birthday, Saturday, April 25, 2009.....

Photo of Bollman Bridge Elementary School taken from http://bbes.hcpss.org on Thursday, April 23, 2009.

As some of you know, tomorrow (Saturday, April 25, 2009) is my 26th birthday!!!! Aside from spending time with my family and friends, I hope to do a race tomorrow morning (I'm glad I get to do one on my birthday). There's a new 5K Run called the Tech Trot at Bollman Bridge Elementary School in Jessup (Howard County), MD, and this is neat because it's the school where I attended my last year of preschool at, and it's right next door to Patuxent Valley Middle School (where I attended sixth and seventh grade, the latter grade of the two was when I started running consistently with the Howard County Junior Striders in the spring of 1997). This course looks to be a bit hilly according to the course map and based on my experience in running around that area, especially when it goes into Savage (this race goes into the Savage Park a time or two, which is really close to Jessup).
I hear the highs are supposed to get into the 80's this weekend, and I'm likin' the warmer weather for the most part, though I hope it's not too hot or humid for tomorrow morning's race!

All right, thank you for stopping by and I hope that you all have a great weekend :)

April 20th :) :) :) :)

While some look at this date and find detestable implications behind it (i.e. the Columbine High School shooting around Littleton, Colorado occurred this day ten years ago, and also this is like some kind of pot smoking day), this date is one of the best in my life as well as a spiritual milestone. On Sunday, April 20, 2003 (this was an Easter Sunday), my friend Lydia helped me to come to know Jesus Christ, God's Son, and receive His Salvation :) That was a wonderful night; one that changed my life so much... And still is! This day is very special to me, no matter the negative connotations in 4/20!

Also, in other great news, I'm sure a few of you have heard, I have a girlfriend named Kay now. We went on our first date yesterday evening (Sunday, April 19, 2009) out to Applebee's (and just driving around her neck of the woods), and had a terrific time (and of course excellent company :) We met at a mutual friend's New Year's party on December 31, 2007 (the same year that I first ran in a running event in all of Maryland's counties in a year :). We became pretty good friends, and very recently it seems, we became interested in a romantic relationship. I mean I didn't even plan it yesterday that we would try and take that next step to see if she wanted something more than friendship; it just came up so sudden and it was one of the most excellent surprises I've had in a long time! She's a wonderful woman and we seem to have a lot in common with our faith, values, and things that we like to do. We are looking forward to getting to know each other better in our new relationship. I can't believe that God would bless me with a great woman like this; and us both with a relationship among other things. I don't feel like I deserve it... Then again, that's another example of grace for you: God's favor without having done anything to deserve it... Just like the gift of Salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ :)

Thank you all for reading and sharing in this Good and happy news with me :)

Great cross country/trail 5K run this morning!!!

Hey there everyone, I made it over to Adkins Arboretum in Ridgely (Caroline County), Maryland this morning on Saturday, April 18, 2009 for the 4th Annual Arbor Day Fun Run 5K. It was sunny and warm; great day for a well-shaded cross country and trail run. Like I said, I had run here back in the April of 2007 when they had a 10K option (and I ran the 5K), and I liked the venue and wanted to get back to it. My goal was sort of a long shot; to break 18:26, which had been my 5K split in the 10K on this course. I knew it would be difficult because I was starting to feel thirsty even before the race, I was still coughing, and I had not been running that much these past couple of weeks because of the missions trip and from feeling sick.

We started out going straight, and then making a right and making this lap around this field (the grassy terrain around which was a bit uneven to say the least). After finishing up this lap, I was already huffing-and-puffing (so much for easing into it). I prayed quickly that God would help me maintain as I entered the narrow, but very well-paved and relatively safe trails that I would be on for just about the rest of the race. I started to feel a little bit better on these trails (and I typically don't run trails that well). I still felt like I was pushing the pace and I knew from before that we would be making a couple of loops in these woods before exiting the woods onto the dirt roads that would take us back to the arboretum.

Running over the bridges and up and down the small rolling hills on the dirt trail brought back memories of when I had run there before, and I definitely recongnized this one tree I had run around a couple of years ago (as well as these wooden teepee-like structures in the woods towards the beginning of the race).

When I was coming up towards the end of the second loop in the woods, one of the course marshalls was pointing left, but I saw arrows going straight and I was confused, trying to figure out what was going on, and I was not being that cautious, that I tripped over something and rolled on the ground, having my glasses fall and my car keys fall out of my hands. God helped me to be resilient, and I quickly rebounded almost painless, bent over to grab my keys and looked around for my glasses for a few seconds before finding them in the dirt, and then I put them back on and ran straight (the direction I was supposed to go the second time around). I probably lost about 5 or 6 seconds because of this fall; no big deal I did not think. There was no one around me at this point, so I did not have any other runners to follow, which was one of the reasons I had gotten confused.

Not long after that trip-up, the trail curved to the left and I followed it out of the woods and onto a dirt road that ran around this huge field. I could see the arboretum building far off to the left, but I had a feeling that this dirt road would probably take me a long time around the fields of the arboretum. I ran straight on these fields, feeling thirsty, but not really dehydrated, and I was huffing. I knew from previous experience that I was almost done; I just had to find that dirt road that angled to the left and that would take me straight to the finish line. At one point, I thought I saw the left-hand turn, but fortunately there was a course marshall right there who said it was a little further up. So I went straight a little while longer, and then I made the left turn (and I saw the arrows pointing that direction too). I knew from there, I was almost to the finish; probably about a 1/4-mile away or so. However, I did not feel like I had that much energy to kick it in with. While on this final dirt road, I saw a corner of the arboretum building, in front of which was the finish line. I looked at my watch and it read about 16:47. I knew I was getting pretty close and I had a feeling that I would beat 18:26. I think at that point I prayed that God would help me to finish strong, or break 18. Well, both happened.
When the arboretum building came into full view, I bolted in as best I could and crossed the finish line in about 17:51; my fastest 5K time in a little over three years! However, I suspect that this course may have been a little short, because I did fall at one point and I felt myself backing off the pace at some points during the race. In addition, I don't think I'm in shape enough just yet to be breaking 18 minutes for a 3.1-mile distance. The race staff said that it was a correct distance. Who knows, maybe it was correct, and God really helped me to run a great race (He's certainly done that before, especially when I least expect it). If it was a little shorter than an actual 5K, then I doubt it was by that much. Either way, I enjoyed the event and seeing some friends and people from the Maryland Eastern Shore that I had not seen in a while. This was a smaller race, but I think compared to 2007, this turnout may have been larger than quite possibly the 5K and 10K combined (and that year, the 5K had more finishers than the 10K).

I hope to have some results of this event (or at least the award winners) up on my Caroline County, Maryland Blogspot.Com site (which just has an introduction on it currently) at: http://www.runincarolinecountymd.blogspot.com


Thank you all for stopping by and hope that you enjoy this terrific spring day and weekend! God bless you all :)

Hopin' to get to the Arbor Day Fun Run 5K this Saturday!

Image of Adkins Arboretum building taken on Saturday, April 28, 2007

This Saturday, April 18, 2009, I hope to do my first race in two weeks at the Fourth Annual Adkins Arboretum Arbor Day Fun Run 5K in Ridgely (Caroline County), Maryland right around the Tuckahoe State Park and Forest area. This is pretty much a cross-country/trail race. I ran this race back on Saturday, April 21, 2007 when they had a 10K option as well as the 5K option, and I am grateful I opted for the 10K because I ran 37:59, which is still my best time for that 6.2-mile distance to this day. I remember I hit about 18:26 for the first 5K loop half-way through the race, and I know it seems like a longshot with the shape I feel like I'm in right now, but I would like to break 18:26, God-willing. I was still feeling under the weather today (even though I went to work and then did a rather brief running workout, from which I definitely felt worn out). Still, I think trying to run under 18:26, I'm sure I'll put enough effort in to run a time I can go home happy with. I hope I'm healthy enough to make it to and through the race. I heard they changed the course a bit last year too, so it'll be neat to see that. I think I'll end up being happy just to make it to and through the race, at that. God always has a way of working through my weaknesses, regardless of how I feel or what I think (as evidenced by my recent disaster relief efforts missions trip in southern Mississippi). As a matter of fact, it was not very long ago that I ran the 4th Annual Marriotts Ridge High School Mustang Stampede in 18:24 after running a 5K the previous day and feeling tired from that, and after not having run under a 6-minute mile for a while (and 18:24 for the approximate 3.1-mile distance of 5 kilometers means that I averaged about 5:55/5:56-per-mile :) God is awesome, and he helped me to run that way for my level of fitness at the time.
All right, thank you all for stopping by and reading. I hope you all have a great weekend :)

Mission: Mississippi details

Bottom left, a photo of us on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by a deck platform we were working on, on the right is a photo of us dancing (or "closing down") at the Shed on Thursday evening, April 9, and then on the top left is how the house looked towards the end of our last work day on friday, April 10. You can read more about our progress and see more photos at:
http://mtzionhighland.com/blog/index.php

This blog website during this past week and the photos therein have been largely supplied by John Lindberg, a fellow crew member.


We arrived back in Maryland last Saturday, April 11, 2009 from the Mission: Mississippi mission trip to help rebuild a house that was hit by Hurricane Katrina back in 2005 (and possibly by similar natural disasters). I had gone with a group from Mt. Zion United Methodist Church. We left fairly early in the morning on Sunday, April 5 changed planes at the Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia (not the country, it's towards the southern part of the United States), and then we flew to New Orleans International. Once we landed in New Orleans in southern Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico, we hit took a little time to walk around the city and go sightseeing before the van drivers (who were in our group and who drove down separately from Maryland) would take us to our camp in Mississippi. I really liked New Orleans; it kind of reminded me a little bit of Los Angeles, California. There were plenty of shops and streets. It was not too incredibly croweded, and the weather was comfortable for walking around (around 80 degrees, humid, and sunny -- yea maybe that's a bit too much heat, but I'd rather that kind of weather than shivering in the cold). This was my first time in Louisiana, and since I like to travel and keep track of places I've been, I found it a fun experience.
We mainly walked around the French Quarter of New Orleans (which apparently is pretty well known). I liked it as well as some of the building structures. While walking along, I noticed a lot of people walking around in athletic gear and with finishing medals around, and I soon gathered that the New Orleans IronMan (or maybe it was Half-Ironman) Triathlon had occurred that morning. It was certainly humid enough for weather to be a challenge, though I'm sure the cooler water would have been refreshing.
We ate lunch at this restaurant called Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. If you all remember the movie Forrest Gump, the characters Forest Gump and Bubba meet in the army and eventually Forrest Gump helds carry on Bubba's dream of opening a shrimp company. And now they actually have those restaurants for real, and apparently they have at least a few throughout the United States (like I think I heard there's one in Minnesota, California, and possibly North Carolina). The food there was grate (I remember I really liked the Cajun Shrimp). It was fairly greasy in my opinion, but I did not have any issues with that, as I was grateful to have some food and not have a stomach ache afterwards (in light of recent stomach problems, I kinda knew i was taking a risk with that food). After lunch we wandered around some more and I took a couple of nice photos from the outdoor balcony of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

After the sightseeing we rode in the vans (there were four vans between the 32 of us) and drove towards Vancleave (Jackson County), Mississippi, where we would stay in the dormitories of a United Methodist Church's camp. On the way to Vancleave, we stopped at this place called the Shed in Ocean Springs (Jackson County), Mississippi (these places in Mississippi were to the more southwestern part of the state, not too far from the Louisiana state line to the west of Mississippi). Now the Shed was a neat place and those among us who went on Mission: mississippi last year were definitely eager to go to this place called the Shed, and when I got there, I knew why it was called the Shed: From the outside, it looked like a small dive of a restaurant (but on the inside there was more room and tables than there appeared to be). On the outside were a bunch of picnic tables right by an outdoor bar area and a small stage for live performances. The music was pretty festive, and the people there seemed to be a fun-lovin' crowd. From appearances, some people would probably call this place tacky, maybe "redneckish", and that the restaurant actually looks like a shed... As for me, it sounds like my kinda place :) The food there was good. Some of the money we pitched in went towards the buffet we got of roast beef, salad, and other nice foods (I can't remember everything I had there, but I liked the food and the atmosphere).

After the Shed, we drove a little bit further until we got to Vancleave and then we unpacked and got settled into our dormitories. At that point, I think I was starting to feel really tired and I wanted to get to bed. The day before (Saturday, April 4), 2009 I had been busy on the Maryland Eastern Shore, and I had started out there running in the Stillpond-to-Betterton Tree Run in Kent County, Maryland (which was about 3.6 miles long), and then throughout the day I had a few other things to take care of and some things to straighten out on and off the computer before I left (I did not intend to use a computer or the internet while I was gone), and as a result of getting to bed later than expected and then have to get up fairly early, I think I had gotten a little less than four hours of sleep. Fortuantely, God gave me the strength to stay awake, alert, and able to enjoy the experience of traveling (even though I may have dozed off for a brief few minutes on the flight from Georgia to Louisiana after reading). I dont' remember much about what we did once we got to the camp that first night aside from unpacking and sorting through my stuff and work gear. Needless to say, i did not have much trouble falling asleep that night.


Monday, April 6, 2009 - This was our first day on the worksite, which was about 40-50 minutes away from where we were staying in Vancleave. This house was in a rather remote and shaded area of Lucedale (George County), Mississippi. A previous group had done a great job setting up the foundation/first floor of the house and we were going to continue building off of it. There were not too many of us (myself included) who were that experienced with construction, using powertools, or any of that, but that was okay 'cause there were at least four people among us who participated in building houses and our main project supervisor among us actually has been working in construction for the past several years. So we had some solid management and instruction throughout. We were divided into about four teams (I was on the "Blue Team"). That first day we set up our gear and the project heads examined the blueprints. Each team did not seem to work on too much of a speccidfic task, we all just sort of worked on putting the insides of the walls together, which we hoped to raise in the near future. As I recall, we raised one of the longer ones on the first day, and I think we started to raise one of the shorter ones too. We worked pretty much from about 9 to 5ish before cleaning up and heading back to the camp for dinner (and they did great making homemade breakfast and dinner for us, as well as providing food to make our own lunches with). I'd say I ate more there for breakfast than I would on my own these days (which is beneficial, 'cause I should not be losing too much weight as a result of exercising, an issue I was having a couple of months ago and was one of the chief reasons for my recent break from running). They really treated us very hospitably and kindly; they valued their workers and volunteers for sure, and they seemed very passionate about what God was doing in and around their ministry on the Gulf Coast (and their ministry involved helping to regulate disaster relief efforts in that area of the United States).
Our group ranged in age from high-school age teens to folks who were retired. The evenings after dinner, I would usually play games witht eh youth and younger adults on the trip. Monday, we played a game (I think it was "Catch Phrase"). It was a fun game and I had trouble pulling myself away from it 'cause I knew I had to get to bed early if I wanted to get a good night's sleep (I was still a little tired from the previous weekend's events).


Tuesday April 7, 2009 - I got up at around 5:19 in the morning to use the bathroom and could not get back to sleep. I knew we had to be at breakfast by 7 A.M., and since I wanted to try to fit in a brief run in that day, I decided to throw on my reflective vest and run in the dark for a little bit to get a run in in case the rest of the day got too hectic to fit it in. I ran around the camp, and then down the road to the Vancleave Upper Elementary School (I guess in this area, an "upper elementary school" includes grades 3,4, and 5 while a "lower elementary school" includes grades 1 and 2 and possibly kindergarten", I think someone told me that anyway). I ran around the school's campus a little bit, and then back down the road to finish at the camp in I think just under 19 minutes. By that time, the sun was starting to come out and it looked pretty on the crisp, cool morning. I grabbed a quick shower and made it to breakfast.
When we got to the work site, we on the Blue Team were assigned the task of building a deck with a handicap-access ramp coming from the side of the house down to the front of it (the homeowner was in a wheelchair). We started working on the main deck and finished that up before the work day was over. There were a couple of people in teh group who really seemd to understand what they were doing and we sort of let them take the lead. I found a lot of it confusion, 'cause right now, I have trouble visualziing things (which is probably why I was probably not the best with arts and crafts for one thing). I took orders and spendt a lot of the time hammering (and I discovered the hammer I brought from home was pretty small compared to others, making my job harder, not too mention my hand-eye coordination is not the best all the time and neigther were my hammering skills as a result :)-, drilling in nails, and I looked for opportunities to carry heavy things, something I felt like I could do decently, because I was not too experienced with the other activities with the deck. All-in-all, our first day with the deck went nicely, and I thought we worked pretty well as a team. I think we were patient with one-another as many of us did not have a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and we all made mistake or were learning how to use certain tool for the first time.
While we were working on the deck, the rest of the four walls of the house were raised and more people began to work inside.
This was the day I met Betty, the homeowner, and I think she had soem of her family with her. Apparently since her house was wrecked in Katrina, she had been staying with her son. She seemed like a nice lady, and grateful for the work we doing on rebuildling her house. Later on I found out from our trip leader that she was so happy about what we were doing for her that she was in tears. One thing that I found moving about this was when I heard Betty talking to some others in our group and how she was trusting that her property and what had happend was all in God's hands, and that she seemd to take a lot of security in Him. That was a huge blessing to hear, and definitely encouraging as well.
That night we had a big dinner, and maybe I ate too much, 'cause my stomach was bothering me when we were playing this really fun game called "Outburst". I got through the game fortuantely without my stomach causing an "outburst" :)-, and then headed off to bed early. As I was getting ready for bed, I felt a little bit better and by the next morning I was rarin' to go for breakfast and then work. I was grateful for that because I did not want to have another bout of queasiness bugging me while I was trying to help build a house and while I was away from home too!



Wednesday, April 8, 2009 (Passover :) - After breakfast, we made a point to leave a little earlier (we had been leaving closer to 8:30 the past couple of days and this time we wanted to leave at 8, 'cause this day was expected to be our busiest day). Mostly everyone was successful with leaving early. Though, the Blue Team was assigned breakfast clean-up duty that morning, so we did not get to the worksite until a little later. No worries about that though, 'cause we knew what we had to do and it was easy to transition into work. We worked on another platform that would connect the two ramps as one ramp came from the deck we built the previous day on the side of the house, and then the other would go to the ground a the front of the house. This deck and ramps would sort of looking like a backwards "L" if everything went right. We did a lot of digging and lifting with this. The photo above in the lower left is one of myself and some of the crew that worked on the deck (we are standing on the lower platform where we planned to have the two ramps intersect).
Also, we were promised a porta-potty at the beginning of the week, but it did not arrive until today. We were happy about that, because before we would have to either find a tree or go into an abandoned and wrecked shop on the other side of this dried-out creek bed, and use the dirty toilet there (I don't think any of us sat down on it). The first day, some of us actually made a special trip to Hardees for a bathroom stop. In addition, there were two of these porta-potties too.
In addition to working on the deck, the tresses for the rooftop arrived, so some people started building up the skeletal foundations for the roof while a bunch of others worked on hanging drywall inside.
We stayed a lot later at this worksite. Before we had worked from about 9-5ish, and this time a lot of people started earlier and we stayed until about 5:30ish (and we usually took our lunch break at around 12:30ish-1ish in the afternoon.
We got back and were late for dinner, but dinner sure tasted good after a long day's work. After that, we had a team pow-wow between the 30+ of us ot process and discuss our progress, our reactions to what we were doin and how challenging some of the work was. We also talked about how grateful Betty and her family were for our efforts and progress too. It was pretty encouraging to go to this and hear from my teammates that they were having similar challenges and experiences that I was. After the meeting, I played hide-and-seek with the high school students, and that involved a lot of running around. Even though Iddi not run nearly as long as I did on Tuesday morning, I still decided to count it as exercise, adn that was pretty much the last time I went running on this trip.



Thursday, April 9, 2009 - As a result of last night's meeting, the leaders decided to make some changes in the groups and switch people up with different jobs, so that the delegation of people to tasks may make the building process more efficient and effective. While I was still a Blue Team member a couple of people were moved onto the decking project, and I was swtiched over to help carry and cut the "hardy boards", these rather cumbersome boards that were also fragile if bumped too roughly on the ground, that were used for the exterior siding. These boards could be difficult to work with, especially since they could easily break under pressure or even dropping them. I did not mind carrying them too much, because I felt like I understood what I was doing with that and with working with them, so I felt a little more confident about that. I helped hold these boards down while some of my teammates measured certain dimensions on it and cut it accordingly to fit around different parst of the house's exterior. I even learned how to measure some of them and cut some of them too. One of the best things I took from this trip was learning how to use new tools and ways to problem solve/correct construction-based errors and mistakes (and believe me, I made quite a few of them, but fortunately nothing too serious).
The deck platforms were pretty much finished and they got a lot of work done on the ramp section that went from the ground to the lower platform that was built on Wednesday. That looked good. Also, people were starting to work on the roof (including some of the youth). It was dfeinitely looking a lot more like a house.
We ended up working really long this day; in fact this may have been our longest day. We got there a little earlier again (well before 9 in the morning, and then did not leave until probably a little after 6 in the evening (and there was still plenty of sunlight out by then). By that time, I was glad it was time to clean-up for the day, 'cause I was getting tired from carrying those boards, as were my teammates. Instead of having dinner at the camp like normal, we had planned to go back to the Shed. By the time we got there, the sun had almost set completely and it was getting dark. Since it was almost the weekend, it was more crowded and we were fortunate enough to be able to find some picnic tables to sit at. I remember I got this really nice beef sald, a soda, and some other tasty side-dish. While we were sitting and eating, it was Country Music Night or something like that (apparently they have it on Thursdays), and I thought that was great since I like to listen to a lot of country (and I've been into it since I was in the eighth grade over ten years ago). They had a few acts (one of the vocalists was a female high school student, and I thought she sang pretty nicely). I recognized a lot of the songs there. Towards teh endof the last rather upbeat live song, people started dancing a little bit on stage, and after that the music was played through the stereo system, and the first song I remembered they played was the rather upbeat, "Fast as You" by Dwight Yoakam, whose a famous country singer. Soon a lot more people got up on the dance fllor in front of the stage, and pretty soon quite a few of us on the missions team got on the dance floor and started boogeying. I tell you, I don't usually see this kind of activity or this kind of restaurant from where I grew up in Columbia, so it was great to experience this kind of laid-back and fun culture.
YEEEHAWWW!!!!
- This was our last scheduled work day, and I was pleassntly surprised that I was not as sore as I thought I 'd be from moving those "hardy boards" around or from dancing last night. We got to the work site, and a lot of us were able to finish our projects, if not, come close. We finished cutting the "hardy boards" and we almost covered all the areas of the house's exterior with them. By the time we did that, our supply of "hardy boards" was pretty much depleted. One hting about using those boards is that since they are delicate, if they are left outside and it rains, the water can ruin it and so we had to take these boards that we did not hang during the day (even if they were scrap that we were probably not going to use), and put them back inside of the house at the end of the work day. Then, at the beginning of th ework day, we would have to carry them out of the house (which was becoming harder to move around in by the day as more interior structures and walls weres being built up, but this was a great problem because we were making progress). Fortunately, I was always able to find someone to help me move them too. We were worried about how rain would affect our project, because rain was forecasted for Thursday and Friday, but fortunately we did not get anything more than a fewsprinkles while driving ot the work site on Friday morning. So the rains, which probably could have made the work more difficult, held off.
By mid-afternoon we were done working with the "hardy boards" and the deck, platform, and ramps were pretty much completed. It looked very well-done and it was great to see something that I participated in helping to start as a finished product with the house. More roofing was going on, and towards the end of the day, they needed more help up there and I decided to take a risk and try working on the roof. This was the first time I could ever remember doing anything on the roof of a house. For the first several moments up there, it was pretty scary, 'cause it looked like I could easily go off the edge (which was certainly a reality), though I was surpirsed how much easier it was to get around up there once I got a bit used to it (even though I moved pretty slowly). APparently a lot of people up there had sneakers, which provided more traction on the roof, and I had my work boots on which, provided less traction. Once someone told me that I should wear sneakers for better traction and once I realized I did ont bring them with me because Idid not intend originally to go up on the roof or use them for the projects, I left them back at the camp. After that, I was a little paranoid about losing my balance, and it kind of made it hard to concentrate as I was hammering in these pretty easy nails into black tar paper on he roof top. Towards the end, I think I got the hang of it, even though I was doing it kinda slowly and like I said before, hammering isn't exactly my strong point. I had to borrow someone's larger hammer too since my smalelr one was making the job harder than it should have been. Still, I was glad I could help and that I survived the rooftop experience. I'm glad getting back down the ladder was easier than I thought (I heard and suspected that it could be kinda tricky). Fortuantely, we had one of the younger workers holding the ladder for us as we got down and some of the more experienced workers were helping us get up and down the ladder.
After getting down, I looked around at the house, which was looking more like a finished product from the foundation/ground level that had been there twoards the beginning of the week. I felt a sense of accomplishment with it, as did many others. While I was up on the roof, Betty had visited and we got to say our goodbyes to her. I remember yelling goodbye to her from the rooftop. That was great that she came out almost everyday we were working to check in on us, and it was just so encouraging to see her happy about it.
Not long after that, I helped clean up, and we left again probably close to or around 6 in the evening, and we got back to dinner late and had some leftovers that the kitchen staff graciously left out for us. After that, we got our gear together, and a lot of us went out to this small local ice cream joint called "Dairy Dream" or something like that. I had a nice oreo cookie "twister", which kind of reminded me of the oreo cookie mcflurries that I'm quite fond of from McDonald's. After that, we headed back to camp and got ready for bed, 'cause we knew we had to get up early to get on the road towards the airport in New Orleans by 6 in the morning.


Saturday, April 11, 2009 - Our team leader had provided us with bagels (and I think some doughnuts) and coffee in the morning, and we ate that before getting our stuff together and getting on the road. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and we caught our flight, changed planes at the airport in Atlanta, Georgia again, and then landed in Maryland. We all stuck around in the bagagge claim area, and said our goodbyes to each other as we started trickling out to meet up with rides home or catching shuttles to where we parked. I am going to miss the great people that I met and got to know on this trip, but I'll probably be seeing some of them in the near future this coming Sunday as we meet up with some of the group members who drove separately and took some of our gear back with them on the road so that we did not have to worry about checking them in at the airport/carrying them on the plane. Also, there is a Mission: Mississippi reunion in May that I hope to go. Plus, Mt. Zion United Methodist is not too far from where I live in Baltimore County, MD.


Closing Thoughts - I was really pleased iwth the trip. I felt a lot more confident about doing hte kind of work required for it than I did at the begining of the week. I think it was great how our group, having a wide age range and different kinds of experiences with construction and architecture, as well as different abilities, could come together and produce the awesome progress that we made. I think I mentioned before in my previous blog post that we had gotten more done than was expected. A lot of the roof was done, most of the sides were covered by "hardy boards", the deck and ramps were sturdy and looked well done, and we got a terrific start on the interior rooms and structures of the house (in the last day or so of our work week, we had gotten a bath tub pretty well inside the house as well as just about if not all of the doors and windows installed. Towards the beginning of the week, we built a sturdy wooden scaffolding around most of the house from which we could work from and that connected the deck in the rear of the house to the one on the side that our group built this past week. The house is on the hill, with a steeper elevation towards the back and easy ground-level access to the front door and ramp in the front of the house. It looked nice and I know I took at least one good picture from the front and side of the house before we left the work site on Friday (and hopefully I will upload more photos sometime soon).
Another way that I felt that God was working here was with me and my inner frustrations. And maybe others experienced it too, I dunno. I know I was definitely confused a lot of times in undestanding and analyzing things like measurements, precisely positioning certain pieces of construction, how to properly hold/use some of the tools, trying to listen and understand directions in the midst of a noisy and busy construction sight, and of course, visualizing what we wanted our finished project to look like. I felt like the devil was feeding off of that and bringing up all of these memories and struggles from the past, of the times I got picked on, or struggled in school because I was not coordinated enough (socially, physically), and how sometimes that led to fits of rage and the occasional fight. When doing the measurements, as well as the mathematical/geometrical thinking and visualization, I felt like I had trouble with that and it did not take long to think about all of those math tests I failed throughout grade school, and how I'd constantly come home and struggle with homework as my folks tried to help me with it, and more often than not, it led to feelings of inferiority, stupidity, and anger. Some of those feelings started to come to the surface in me, or at least in my mind, but not really towards anyone, just myself. However, God helped keep me calm and collected, and focused on the goal of rebuilding this house from a tragedy that could not have been prevented. The homeowner could have done nothing to protect Hurricane Katrina from taking out her house, and here I was in a position to work with a team to help her recover her house. I was not going to let these thoughts get the best of me, not when I knew that even in my meager efforts and contributions, that it would be going to a larger whole of working on this house for God's glory. At that point, I wanted to glorify God more than feed into these negativities about my life and past, which would no doubt have kept me from effectively contributing to the team and helping to advance God's Kingdom in this situation. I figured that if Jesus Christ could save me and everyone from our sins by making us right with our creator, God, if Jesus could raise someone from the dead (Lazarus, a gentleman from the New Testament of the Bible), if He could feed thousands of people with precious little fishes and loaves, and if He Himself could come back from the dead and conquer death, then He could certainly help me overcome doubts and weaknesses to help me and everyone else with this project. And I believe He did. I know He has worked through my weaknesses in the past (i.e., He helped me get good grades in my high school and college classes that were challenging, espeically math, He helped me run races in every county of Maryland and Delaware despite a series of injuries, illnesses, and logistical obstacles, and He has helped me impact people's lives beneficially and make new friends even though I'm not always the best at building relationships and in the past I've had troubles fitting in), and I absolutely believe that in my weaknesses God is strong, and whatever strengths I have comes from God and His favor towards me that was won by Jesus Christ sacrificing Himself in my place and rising from the dead to have victory over death and justify faith in Him. I looked at that house that we had made an incredible amount of progress on, and I felt rewarded in knowing that despite all my weaknesses, struggles, and mistakes, I was still able to work with a great group of people to get this done, and God did not allow anyone's weaknesses or shortcomings to interfere! I have a feeling that I am not the only one who has experienced this feeling of victory on this trip either, and I am grateful that this is part of my testimony of how great and powerful our living God is, and how HE can use us at our worst or best to accomplish great things :)


So that's my trip report. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask (preferably sooner than later as some of the details are still fresh in my mind :) If you would like more thorough coverage and great photos of this trip, please to check out Mt. Zion United Methodist Church's blog on this at: http:///www.mtzionhighland.com/blog/index.php

They also have a little bit of coverage at the church's actual website at: http://www.mtzionhighland.com/



The reason I'm able to get all of this out this morning is because I decided to take the day off of work. Towards the middle of last week while I was working, I started sneezing a lot (most likely because of the sawdust and dirt), and for the last couple of days my throat has been bothering me. Yesterday, my right eye was bothering me and now I suspsect I may have pinkeye (which can be caused by allergies). In case I'm contagious, I thought it best to take a sick day, and if anything, I hope the extra rest helps. I can only remember one time when I had pinkeye, and that was back around the winter of 1997 when I was in the seventh grade, and some of what I'm experiencing now are similar to the symptoms I was having then. I'm was blessed to have been able to get an appointment with my doctor for this afternoon on such short notice!


Thank you all for stopping by and reading. I appreciate all of your prayers and support towards this missions trip; I don't think it would have been what it was without God's blessing! I hope that you all had a great Passover and Easter, and hopefully I'll see some of you soon :)