Thank you everyone for taking the time to help me cheer Marvin on to a glorious finish that we will not soon forget!!Your support and encouragement throughout our Ironman journey continues to make a lasting impression on us, and we certainly feel the love from everyone! Each of your willingness to do whatever it takes to be part of this monumental event is priceless and much appreciated.
And kudos to our highly spirited IronGlee Club Leader Tony Abisia and the rest of the amazing Ironfamily Team Abisia for contributing your superior cheering skills, getting us to the photo op locations safely, and taking the awesome pics/video of this historical and monumental event that will certainly be remembered now and cherished in the years to come :-)
What an amazing finish and thank you for exposing us to an extraordinary event that showed us that anything is possible when you have confidence in your ability and be tough enough to follow through.
While the distances are truly mind-boggling what’s even more mind boggling is witnessing your extraordinary transformation, remarkable courage and determination to stay committed and focus on balancing multiple life role responsibilities as a loving and protective husband, son, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend.
And though you were coaching yourself for the Ironman which occurred at the same time during our Nike Marathon training program, you made priority to coach athletes from different levels to help us achieve our own Ironman finish and brilliantly designed and launched our team’s inaugural clothing apparel with the Team Abisia Endurance Racing shirt. And the cool part is I know that you are only getting started :-) You are and will continue to be an inspiration to all of us.Your light shines radiantly as an example of living life to the fullest, you are amazing beyond amazing.
You create your own music and encourage us all to have the unquestionable willingness to elevate our life of greater joy and meaning.You are my rock, inspire me to be better, and challenge me for the better. I love you and looking forward to many more crazy adventures together! :-)
Meanwhile...please stay tuned for more as we are still sorting through all the media gathered from the trip! For now, here are some more pictures! MORE PICTURES FROM FLORIDA HERE - ENJOY!
Hello there our loyal readers! Guess what today is? See that spinning yellow star at the top of this page? It tells you that we are within 10 days of Team Abisia's inaugural participation in the Nike Marathon!
We continued our training and preparation for this event in earnest this weekend. We also added two new team members to our roster of Team Abisia train. While this past weekend was quite chilly, we still managed to knock down quite a few miles in training.
See the exciting details about it, including who these two new members are, by CLICKING HERE, and reading our post: "Team Abisia Still Hiring". :)
This post comes about a week late, as we've been quite busy with some seriously long training sessions lately. We hope everyone enjoyed the past Labor Day weekend, either lounging around or out and about with friends or family.
As for us, we spent most of Saturday performing our training regimens for our upcoming races. On Sunday, we blocked out the afternoon to spend time with Dad and Mom as a belated gift for Dad's birthday which was back in August. We started with lunch in Tiburon at a restaurant on the water.
The weather was perfect, and to top it all off, our server threw in a peanut butter oreo cheesecake for good measure...after all, this was a celebration of Dad's birthday.
Afterwards, we took a stroll around the Tiburon waterfront to burn off some of the recently ingested calories, but more enjoyably, to take in the sights and sounds of a beautiful day in Marin county.
After the light stroll, we mosey'd on up the bayside to Sausalito, to view a hidden treasure. Built in the 1960's by the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Bay Model is a huge scaled model of all the waterways and structures that comprise the San Francisco Bay Area, including the delta and the Sacramento river! It was a pretty unique experience, and while computers now perform all the simulations of tides and other water scenarios, for a long time this model was used to study the ebbs and flows of bay water.
Finally, we settled into downtown Sausalito to sit down for some good ol' Lappert's ice cream! A great ending to an awesome outing for Dad's birthday on Sunday!
Labor Day Monday, Jo and Jackie each were competing in the UC Davis Golden Harriers 10K race. This race functioned as a checkpoint race as they round up the last 6 weeks of training leading up to the Nike Marathon. And of course, Team Marv.n.Jo's #1 fans were present to help cheer on! :) CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE RACE.
We ended Monday with a nice little reunion dinner with our friends Matt and Liz. It was a nice little reunion, as we have not seen Liz for a year or so, outside of online interaction. Thanks for a great dinner, Matt and Liz!
This past weekend was filled with activities, both family-oriented, and fitness-related. Sunday afternoon was spent celebrating Alex's 13th annual 21st birthday. We started the celebration with lunch at a wonderful little pizza place in Lafayette called Pizza Antica.
They specialize in thin crust, Roman style using dough that proofs for nearly three days before pinning it into pies that are both chewy and crispy. Toppings are seasonal and procured from local artisans: savory cured meats, fresh cheeses, wild mushrooms, tender, organic greens. Needless to say, we had an excellent refueling lunch after our very intense training.
CLICK ABOVE TO PLAY THE SLIDESHOW
In other news, training for Nike and Ironman Florida continues to heat up, and some amazing things have been happening!!! For the latest news on our fitness endeavors...head on over here: http://steel-resolve.blogspot.com
I'm 13 weeks out, and next week starts the "peak" phase where my distances in each discipline will increase dramatically. Thankfully this week was a much needed "rest" week. I limited most of my riding to about 20 miles or less, and the longest swim was 2500 yards. Easing back into running, as I still have a little bit of tenderness from a calf strain from a 2 weeks ago. So I haven't pushed much more than about 6 miles three times since Sunday.
I'm enjoying the calm before the storm, which is just about to arrive...
We hope everyone has had a great week! As we get closer to our rendezvous with destiny in Oceanside, we thought to share with our readers one of the many inspirations that we draw from during our journey through life.
Enjoy...
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in Marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a Wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and Pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars--all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back Mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. On a bike. Makes Taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much--except save his life. This love story began in Winchester , Mass. , 43 years ago, when Rick Was strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving him Brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
"He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;'' Dick says doctors told him And his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. ``Put him in an Institution.'' But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes Followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the Engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was Anything to help the boy communicate. ``No way,'' Dick says he was told. ``There's nothing going on in his brain.'' "Tell him a joke,'' Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a Lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed Him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his Head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? ``Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the School organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, ``Dad, I want To do that.''
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described ``porker'' who never ran More than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he Tried. ``Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says. ``I was sore For two weeks.'' That day changed Rick's life. ``Dad,'' he typed, ``when we were running, It felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!''
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly Shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon. ``No way,'' Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a Single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few Years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then They found a way to get into the race Officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the Qualifying time for Boston the following year. Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not try a triathlon?''
How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he Was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick Tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii . It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud Getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you Think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? ``No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely for ``the awesome feeling'' he gets seeing Rick with A cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than 20,000 starters. Their best Time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world Record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to Be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the Time.
``No question about it,'' Rick types. ``My dad is the Father of the Century.''
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a Mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one of his arteries Was 95% clogged. ``If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' One doctor told him, ``you probably would've died 15 years ago.'' So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in Holland, Mass. , always find ways to be together. They give speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking race every weekend, including this Father's Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
``The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types, ``is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once.''
Please Join Us In Supporting Our Nation's Wounded Warriors!
As many of you know, Marvin has set a goal this year to join the ranks of the rare breed of men and women who have earned the right to call themselves "Ironman". As part of his preparation to achieve this goal, he will be racing at the Ford Ironman California 70.3 in April. This race is exactly half the distance of the full Ironman. Just having the opportunity to enter this race was a big deal...and now that he is racing for a cause to help the injured men and women of our armed forces, the deal has just gotten a lot sweeter!
He's taking on the challenge of a lifetime and needs your help. By donating to his fundraising effort and helping him reach his goal, you will also be helping our fellow Americans with physical challenges realize their dreams.
Team Operation Rebound consists of the men and women of our armed forces who are trying to make a comeback in their lives after returning from the front lines of the battlefield! Your donation will go to Challenged Athletes Foundation's Operation Rebound, an incredible 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides funding and inspiration to hundreds of physically challenged athletes each year so they can participate, compete and live life to the fullest.
We hope you will join us as we help to raise funds to support injured troops who are now waging their own personal war to regain their confidence and competitive spirit by participating in various sports. Just like Marvin, these challenged athletes want to participate in athletics and feel the rush of competition, but they face a major obstacle. They don’t lack fitness, desire or skill. It is only a lack of funding that stands in the way of realizing their dreams.
In these tough economic times any donation is appreciated, regardless of the size. Every dollar will help our recovering armed forces members toward equipping them with the tools necessary to complete their new missions, whether it be prosthetics or a handcycle.
Please join us in making dreams come true. Give the gift of sports and help get challenged athletes get off the sidelines – and get back into the game!
Josephine Abisia ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://marvnjo.blogspot.com http://steel-resolve.blogspot.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ____________________________________ "To some extent, we are all labeled by what we're able to achieve. But more importantly, we are defined by what we attempt." --Scott Tinley
"There is no challenge too great for those who have the will and heart to make it happen."
If you are into edutainment(educational entertainment), then this is definitely a must-read for you. Mr. Armstrong does an excellent job of giving the reader a glimpse into the life of a young man raised solely by his mother, who through his adolescent years finds out he has been gifted with a physiology that is custom-built to conquer endurance racing, yet tragically discovers that he has also been gifted with the blight of testicular cancer and overcomes it to learn not only how to harness his inner strength, but to channel it to heights greater than he could ever imagine.
If you have always wondered at what makes a cyclist tick, this book is for you. If you have ever wondered what a person feels when they contract, but ultimately survive a bout with cancer, this book is for you. If you want to know what kinds of trials and tribulations a couple goes through when they opt for in-vitro fertilization, this book is for you. This book is all that and more, and is worth a read for anyone who wants to peer into the heart of a champion. Surprisingly or not, he is just as flawed if not more flawed then the rest of us.
While he waxes on about his triumphs and conquests of his sport, in It's Not About The Bike, Lance Armstrong does not forget to recognize those who have helped him along the way. From the bike shop owner who gave him his first gig, to the nurse who cared for him in the cancer ward at an Indiana hospital, all of Armstrong's "guardian angels" are revealed so that we understand who and what shaped him to the man he is today. Furthermore, he shares intimate details and technical information on nearly every challenge that he had to overcome (cycling, cancer, fathering his first child, and others). For this reason, the edutainment value of the book is beyond measure.
Beginning with his adolescent years, follow Lance through his formation and transformation into a world-class cyclist. The book was published in 2000, and therefore only covers the first two of his seven-race winning streak of the Tour De France. But that is more than enough to inspire hope and courage into all but the most pessimistic person out there. Relive every detail, from his training to his actual races, all broken down into digestible chunks (even minute-by-minute in some cases). You will share in his exhilaration at victory, and agonize with him in his defeats. Experience the life challenges he went through, maintaining a relationship with is wife-to-be, worrying about his mother, and ultimately the joy he experienced at the birth of his son Luke.
So does the hype of Lance Armstrong deliver? Only if you're willing to recognize that this is one man's take on how to turn lemons into lemonade, and that regardless of whether or not you are a world champion athlete, you too were born to become a champion at something. Attitude determines one's altitude in life, and It's Not About The Bike shows some good examples of how this mantra helped one person overcome some of the longest odds that anyone can imagine.
Are you inspired yet? No? Then you might just want to give this book a spin, and see if it gets you thinking of what you are truly capable of.
Sadly, an iconic San Francisco bay area institution is slated to close in the very near future. The Scharffen Berger chocolate factory, purveyor of award-winning chocolate, and in operation since 1994 has joined the ranks of businesses that has succumbed to the reality of our economy.
While it is difficult to say whether this unfortunate turn of events could have been prevented, the closure of the factory is attributable to cost-cutting measures being taken by the parent company of Scharffen Berger: Hershey Co. The plan is to consolidate production of the high-end Scharffen Berger product to the midwest. The fine artisan chocolates will still be available to us, but the novelty of touring the original production facility and getting a free education on chocolate production will be gone for the foreseeable future.
If you have never toured the factory, your only option now is a virtual tour on the website. Surely another cost-cutting measure. We were so fortunate to have not missed out on one of the great hidden gems of the bay area, and not to mention lots of free samples of some of the finest chocolates and truffles in the world! We loved the place so much, that we asked to spend a few hours there with our loved ones as a Christmas present last month. Just in the nick of time, we were able to experience the live tour before they canceled the tours altogether!
Needless to say...there's is no substitute for experiencing this place in person, but if it is any consolation, we fortunately had the foresight to archive our visit. While it is in the form of a Christmas memory, we hope it helps capture the essence of what will be missed when Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory finally closes its doors.
We hope you enjoy this multimedia capture of our special moment spent with some very special people(Mom and Dad) last Christmas!
Happy 2009 everyone! We hope your year is off to an awesome start like ours! Team Marv.n.Jo is looking forward to another fun-filled and exciting 12 months ahead, filled with many happy memories shared with everyone whom our lives touch along the way. We hope to stay in better touch with everyone...and we hope this blog helps keep you in tune with how we've been.
Drop us a line from time to time as well...we would love to hear from all of you!
Wouldn't you know...we've already got things to talk about for 2009 !!!
Scroll down for more!
New hairstyle for Jo
Yup...that's right! New look...same sharp, fun-loving, awesome woman. Feast your eyes on Josephine ver. 2009:
The evolution of the new 'do...
New goals
Our journey to a happy and fulfilling life continues...and we have started to queue up our goals for this upcoming year (the list is constantly evolving). And of course, it shouldn't be a big surprise that many of them involve fitness milestones, but there are others as well. Some of our goals this year include, but are not limited to:
Continue to build upon our life successes by maintaining and improving ourselves physically, spiritually, mentally, interpersonally, and all other adverbials you can think of!
Continue to expand upon our existing base of fitness-minded and active friends/family by participating in several "group" or "relay" type race events. - Bay to Breakers anyone? :)
Be an example of how anything in life is possible, from fitness to overcoming life's challenges, through positive habits and a positive mentality!
Complete a 1/2 and a full marathon. - Woohoo !
Complete an Ironman triathlon. - Double Woohoo !!
Between all of the above...maybe some traveling....yeah !
New blog
For this upcoming year, we've decided to spin off a portion of our blog to chronicle Marvin's yearlong quest as he pursues his dream of achieving Ironman glory! For more details on this exciting new chapter of the Team Marv.n.Jo storybook, please add this new link to your favorites!
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