Seven Continents. Seven Marathons. Seven Summits. Seven Years.

Have you ever had to beg for a quarter to run 13 miles?  Ever had to flag down a car for the privilege of running? I never had until Sunday …

After separately climbing Mt Si on Saturday, Kim (who had not climbed) and I set out for a long run on Sunday from Marymoor Park.  While her boyfriend Doug rested at my house with the other friends, we left at 0700 and conveniently left all of our money behind.  After parking the car and noticing the $1.00 required parking fee, we began to look for funds for pay for parking.

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As in every other year since around 1987, I made up my list of goals and objectives for the coming year and revisited the list I made last year around New Years Eve.  I’ve made it a personal habit not to share the list but wanted to reflect on some areas.

I am generally pleased with the aspirational aspects of what I set out to do in 2009 and some of the goals accomplished which included completed a 50-mile race in April and three additional marathons during the year (Napa, Windemere and Bizz Johnson).  Though I had hoped to qualify for Boston Marathon during this past year, my realistic training schedule around work commitments would not permit that – but it is definitely on my list for 2010.  I just need to shave about 15 minutes off my PR at CIM in December 2008 and I believe that I have a realistic chance with some serious speed work.

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As these things go, several incidents came together in the past week that gave me some moments to reflect on being a father and what that means as we head into the holidays.  All of this came together for me today while on a splendid (is there any other kind?) 7mile run in the cool Northwest air.

Last weekend, both Jeremy and Nick came up to visit me in Redmond.  We did not nearly have enough time to spend together and some of the time was consumed with being with other friends at the same time.  Nevertheless, we did have some honest father-son discussions which were so far beyond what me and my dad ever did.

Jeremy gave me a couple of books for christmas, as he always does (they have greatly expanded my author repertoire!), including “Manhood for Amateurs – The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son” by Michael Chabon – which I will talk about shortly.

Additionally, my Uncle Ted wrote me about the Lewis Family site he has been updating, which goes back to my great-great grandfather and includes stories from the past five generations of Lewis’s in the US and in Lithuania (where apparently my father’s side of the family comes from).  This reminded me that I have written a couple of posts on my mom, including one of my favorites recollecting her funeral in 2004, and I have yet to write a similar one for my dad even though it is on my list of things to do in 2009.

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After another Thanksgiving, I thought it would be relevant to write about Giving Thanks and what I am thankful for this year.  How can another year have gone by????

1. I am thankful for my health.  To be able to run 5 miles today and see the green hills of Petaluma is a really good thing.  When running is easy and the talking is helpful, it is nearly the best thing in the world.

2. I am thankful for the small things in life, like the rainbow this evening that stretched from Sebastapol to Petaluma.  Two eyes and an appreciative mind in concert …

3. I appreciate friends and family that provide unconditional love and life support without judgment.  Thank you for all of the past year and the coming months.

4. In a year of +10% unemployment, I am grateful to be gainfully employed, no matter how stressfull most days are … every day is a moment of truth.

5.  I give thanks to the accomplishments of the past years that no one can take away … we all have these.  Both in our personal and business lives.

6. I am so lucky to have two sons that I am proud of, who represent the best of what adults can be.  You guys are the best!

7. I give thanks to the human potential – beyond the day-to-day nonsense of normal life.  It’s easy to focus on the evil side of humanity instead of the possibilities for mankind.

8. Having seen “A Serious Man” today – the new Coen Brothers movie, I am grateful to not have that much drama in my life   The ending is terrible and it’s kind of depressing, but guarantee you’ll come away somewhat smiling.

9. I am thankful for the opportunity to provide unconditional love and life support to others in my life who need it at their own time in need – with no expectations of reciprocity.  It’s all about karma and giving/getting.

10. Finally, I just want to be thankful for the opportunity to write about all of this and those that have enabled me to find my voice and set this site up so well (Jen this means you …  looking forward to C&R 2.0!)

Here’s to raising a toast for the coming year!

Yesterday at 5pm, I officially closed on the house here in Redmond.  Only about 6 minutes from Microsoft campus and great views of the Cascades and Lake Sammamish in a very quiet neighborhood.  The process was neither easy or straightforward and due to the complexities of new lending rules following the mortgage meltdown, I had to go through a number of hoops and cross high hurdles to get to closing.

The sellers were great, this was a second house for them as they live in eastern Washington and they had done some great improvements inside and the three decks.  I’ve got some thumbnail pictures below for context via Flickr and will add some more high-res pics in the coming days.  It’s about 2800 sq ft on three levels including “daylight” basement and I lucked out with it being close to work – avoiding massive commutes to other neighborhoods I looked at.  Now, if it can avoid being one of those movie houses (think Tom Hanks) where everything self-destructs after moving in  —-> Hopefully the inspection report and the work done will make sure this does not happen!

Faithful readers – what a journey so far!!!  Running marathons on seven continents – only 250 people out of 6 billion have done this!!! Climbing the seven continents – again, only 250 people have accomplished —–> number that have done BOTH – maybe ONE.   I will complete by June 2011 – we are updating C&R in next several months to reflect new site and new schwag and charities.  I’m a lucky guy to have such global lifelong supporters!!!! Thanks Mitch

I had the fun opportunity to do some massive bi-yearly clothes shopping yesterday.  Like most men, I buy rather than shop and in one large swoop, purchased a large amounts of pants, shirts, belts, jackets, sweaters, socks and shoes all in one day.  What fun!  There are some really great styles out there now and no need to dress conservatively all the time anymore.

Which brings me to this post and a guy named Maxwell Maltz. On this shirt I bought from a company called Roar - there was this amazing passage on the tag, and I thought that I had to get it out here.

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Some small stories while waiting for my flights in Hong Kong airport:

The meaning of “one by one”?  When you are having dinner with Chinese customers and partners, and you are the most senior executive in the room, and the host, you are expected to go around with the most senior executive customer host – and have a drink (gambai) with each and every person.  I’ve been coming to China for a long time, and maybe I just got lucky before.  But this time, going around to every person and having to literally finish a half-glass of local wine was a difficult task.

It could have been worse though.

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The day dawned clear and cold.  We were at about 5,000′ and a group of us were about to set out on another adventure of running 26.2 miles just for the hell of it.  The team included Kim, Chris, Pete, Jeremy, Doni (and Kimber) and other roomies at the Roseberry B&B in Susanville (built 1902).

The night before, we had all gone to the local pub/restaurant where we had a typical pre-marathon meal of pasta and beer and wine (ok some water too.)

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When you hear the word “Movement” what do you think? This is a pretty big word and you might flash on civil rights or anti-war movements. You might even think about physical movements as in running. Some of you might – and I say might – have bowel movement come to mind

As I get ready to head to airport shortly and Northern California for the Bizz Johnson Marathon tomorrow, I was reflecting on a business update review I had with my boss yesterday where we (he) talked about forming a movement.  To put it into context, Austen pretty much single-handedly formed an Art of Selling (AoS) movement within a massive company (Microsoft) and then drove to a World Class Selling (WCS) community site with over 1,000 members today.

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