(More than) Halfway Home

By obrienmj | Published July 2, 2011

Greetings from lovely Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

I’ve been offline for a while and didn’t provide a five-month update at the end of May. I moved in the beginning of the month and didn’t get in as much running as I’d have liked before departing the Old Dominion. I left the States afraid I would lose ground on reaching my year-long goal.

Fortunately, the ability to run has been one of the nicest surprises upon my arrival in my new, Brazza home. The weather’s been rather agreeable so far, and I’ve been able to run an average of 5 miles a day since arriving. Thanks to this good fortune, I was able to hit triple digits in May, finishing the month with a total of 103.79 miles.

June

While May was good, June was even better.

I’ve made it through 2011′s halfway point in great shape- both in terms of meeting my year-long goal of running 2011 kilometers as well as in terms of my overall physical fitness. I actually weighed myself this week, and am proud to report that I’m once again a proud resident of One-derland, getting under 200 pounds for the first time since January 2010! That’s about 22 pounds in 8 weeks…the only thing missing from my weigh in were a bunch of fatties dressed in yellow t-shirts crying together as I hit my goal. Nonetheless, Bob and Jillian would be proud.

Run(s) of the Month

There isn’t one run that stands out, but I’m proud to say that I ran every day in the month of June:

All day every day!!!

Here’s my typical morning run, worth zooming in if you want to get a feel for the terrain:

The biggest change in my running comes in the tools of the trade. I’ve moved from wearing the Brooks Adrenalines and the Trance (my personal favorite), into the trail-ready Brooks Adrenaline ASR. The roads/terrain here are so uneven and dusty (we’re in the dry season now too, which facilitates tons of dust), that I need the rugged design of the ASRs when I take to the streets each morning. Thankfully (knock on wood), the transition has been seamless.

June Total: 157.24 miles
2011 Total: 1,181.4838 kilometers (734.14 miles)
To Go: 829.52 kilometers (41.25% Remaining)

* Distance measured by my Garmin Forerunner 310xt.
** Miles run in Brooks Adrenaline ASR 5.

Posted in Fitness | Leave a comment

Four Months in the Books

By obrienmj | Published April 30, 2011

April is the last full month I’ll live in the States until 2013, and I think I made the most of it (running-wise, at least). Over the past 30 days, I banged out more than 170 miles – including 12 days of double-digit mileage- making a nice dent towards reaching my goal of running 2011 kilometers in 2011.

I wanted to rack up as many miles as possible in April because I don’t know what to expect during the final two thirds of 2011. I’ll move to Africa in less than two weeks, where there’s certain to be an adjustment period as I adjust to a new schedule and find running routes. (Don’t worry, that’s not some preemptive excuse…I’ll still bang out some serious mileage in Africa).

The Northern Virginia weather really cooperated this month, giving me an opportunity to run in shorts and a t-shirt, which is so much more fun than running in cold weather gear. In fact, I think I only had to wear long sleeves one day. On the flip side, the weather wasn’t oppressively muggy, which was nice, too.

With this in mind, I’d like to continue running hard, posting high mileage during the first 10 days of May before I get on the plane to Africa. My goal is 100 miles over the next 10 days, but I’m not sure how realistic this will be to attain with movers coming and all but I once heard that you’re more likely to reach your goals if you tell people about them…so here goes.

Run of the Month:

Thanks to good the folks of Bob Roncker’s Running Spot, I had the opportunity to get in a great workout with a group of Ohio-Northern Kentucky-based runners prepping for the Flying Pig Marathon. The run came in just over 11 miles. We ran an 8:48 pace, including a wicked downhill mile which clocked in at 6:30. This was probably my best run of 2011.

After four months:

March Total: 170.97 miles
Total States: 3+ (Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, D.C.)
2011 Total: 761.397 kilometers (473.11 miles)
To Go: 1249.60 kilometers (62.14% Remaining)

* Distance measured by my Garmin Forerunner 310xt.
** Miles run in Brooks shoes 1-17 April, Brooks Adrenaline GTS 10; 18-30 April Brooks Trance 10.

Posted in Fitness | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Three Months in the Books

By obrienmj | Published March 31, 2011

2011′s third month proved fantastic on a number of levels. I passed my French test; hung out in Chapel Hill for the first round of the NCAA tournament with my college buddies, and (probably most importantly) ran nearly 140 miles.

After averaging about 80 miles in both January and February, I took advantage of some good weather and really got after it. In fact, during the course of the month, I found time to knock out 5 runs of 10 miles or more, a stat I hope to improve upon in April.

I also took advantage of my Lenten promise to quit drinking Coke. I have to admit that replacing the sweet, caffeinated nectar with water has reaped enormous benefits. I definitely sleep better and get more out of my runs.

I know you can’t judge a book by it’s cover, but a third motivating factor behind running hard this month was
the cover of Dean Karnazes book:



I was in Barnes and Noble the other day, saw this book, and thought he looked great. Dude runs like a marathon a day and (presumably) because of this, he looks like a million bucks. He really motivated me to push it on the trails throughout March. I guess I owe it to him to pick up the book and actually read it now.

I wish there was a fourth factor: running in shorts and a t-shirt. While there were a few days in the 60s (and even 70s), most of the month I wore a thermal or a jacket. Unfortunately, I heard on the radio today that the weather isn’t really going to warm up much until early May. Apparently, we’re in for a month of low-50′s throughout April. While not ideal, I promise I won’t be deterred.

At the end of the first quarter, I’m on track to meet my goal of 2011 kilometers for the year. With a good April, I’ll be well ahead of schedule.

My best run came at the end of the month, a quick 7-miler yesterday at a sub 9 minute pace:

Without further ado, here are the updated numbers after three months:

March Total: 138.92 miles
2011 Total: 486.25 kilometers (302.14 miles)
To Go: 1542.75 kilometers
Total 2011 Excuses – 2

* Distance measured by my Garmin Forerunner 310xt.

Posted in Fitness | Tagged | Leave a comment

Major Step for NY MMA Tuesday

By obrienmj | Published March 14, 2011

Word out of Albany is that mixed martial arts will clear a major obstacle to hosting bouts at The World’s Most Famous Arena and other marquee Empire State venues during Tuesday’s legislative session.

Sources tell morganobrien.com that the New York State Senate will make the initial step towards sanctioning mixed martial arts in NY as part of the one house budget resolution to be confirmed tomorrow.

Once passed in the Senate, the move will require confirmation by the Democrat-held Assembly and ultimately new Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

MMA: Coming Soon!

All 49 other states have sanctioned MMA as New York remained the lone holdout. While the sport has developed a rabid global fan base over the past decade, New York has missed countless opportunities to cater to the state’s knowledgeable fan base and passed on revenue generated by the wildly popular sport.

Most opposition to the arrival of MMA in New York typically revolved around misinformation campaigns regarding the sport’s lawless early days spun by a small but vocal minority, according to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports.

“More high school football players die in competition in a given year than competitors who have died in a sanctioned mixed martial arts event,” writes Iole.

The legislation will open the door to companies like Zuffa (which controls industry standard UFC and recently acquired top competitor, Strikeforce) hosting lucrative events — for both the company balance sheet and the State’s coiffers — at Madison Square Garden and other Big Apple venues (and yes, I’ll even include upstate and Long Island venues, too).

Posted in Sports | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Blood Thicker than Tar for Psycho T?

By obrienmj | Published March 13, 2011

In Houston the night of April 4, the 2011 NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship could well see a matchup of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish (seeded #2 in the Southwest Region), lead by their scrappy senior guard Ben Hansbrough, against the Tar Heels of The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (Seeded #2 in the East Region).

Beyond the usual on-court analysis of playing styles and the like, this potential championship game poses an unusual question: Who would Tyler Hansbrough, the all-time Tar Heel great and current member of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, root for – his alma mater or his younger brother?

Brotherly Love

Morganobrien.com has that answer (with audio proof). We’ll get to that in a moment. Let’s have some fun first.

As someone with family ties to both schools, I found this question intriguing and wasted spent last weekend pestering a bunch of people I follow on Twitter to get their opinions. Respondents ranged from former Tar Heel basketball players to journalists to friends of mine (responses follow story, below).

While Tyler, more than any player in recent history, embodies the Tar Heel spirit (he lead the Heels to their latest title, in 2009), most respondents said they would understand if he rooted for his brother. In fact, the overwhelming majority of respondents, starting with none other than Dickie V., replied with some form of, “Blood is thicker than water.”

While true, I clearly remember Tyler bleeding for the Heels:

Thicker than water?

My favorite responses came from Steve Rushin (who I know from Sports Illustrated, but he might be somewhere else now), who said that Tyler should to root for his “”Brough”. I also enjoyed the response from The New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro (Chaminade High School alum), who replied that “Blood (is) Thicker than Tar”. I liked Vacc’s response so much, I stole it for my headline. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize to Keith Law, who apparently didn’t appreciate my barrage of questions.

Without further ado, here is the response from the horses mouth, courtesy of Hoopsworld.com’s Tommy Beer:

    Tyler Hansbrough: “Notre Dame, I hope they win it all. I mean, I’m a UNC fan but my brother plays for Notre Dame so that’s who I’m pulling for this year….No question, I’m pulling for the Irish. It might piss a lot of people off, but, you know, that’s the way it is.”

    Audio here: LINK (go to 2:08)

Let the record show, if the Heels and Irish play on that magical Monday night, Tommy Beer had the scoop first. In the interim, I’ll continue to pester folks for answers (I’m looking at you, Jay Bilas), and will update this page accordingly.

Notes:

There is another family, faced with this same question, albeit inversely. Star Carolina forward Tyler Zeller’s older brother, Luke, graduated from Notre Dame in 2009, where he was a standout basketball player. I’ve reached out to Luke, and will let you know if we hear from him. Perhaps he can tip the balance.

***

The UNC family could draw on a recent precedent for this question. In the 2009 tournament (In which Tyler Hansbrough lead the Heels to a national title), former Tar Heel Jason Capel supported Oklahoma over the Tar Heels. Capel’s older brother, Jeff, was the head coach of the Sooners:

    Former North Carolina forward Jason Capel had no problem wearing Boomer Sooner red when Oklahoma faced his Tar Heels.

    “For one day? Not at all. I was a Capel my whole life, way before I was a Tar Heel,” he said.

THE EXPERTS (AND JAY 420) WEIGH IN

Legendary Journalists

Dickie V: Blood thicker than water
UNC Alum Peter Gammons: great question (Ed. note: not really an answer, but he is Peter Gammons)

Former Tar Heels

Bobby Frasor: ND. No questions asked.
Wes Miller: heels always. That’s family too
Dewey Burke: ND. Blood comes first.

Chaminade Alumni Journalists

Mike Vaccaro (NY Post): Blood is thicker than tar.
Tommy Beer (Hoopsworld.com): I think he has to root for his bro right? He can root for UNC for rest of his life

Journalists not named Vitale/Gammons who I enjoy following on Twitter

Doug Gottleib (ESPN): Blood thicker than Blue Water.
Steve Somers (WFAN): blood is always thicker than what is it the laundry already.
Dan Levy (On the DL Podcast): Easy. Brother to do well in a close loss to his alma mater. (later) that said, if it was his son (or anyone’s son) you root for the kid, not the school.
Jeff Pearlman (CNNSI): his brother. easy.
Mark Lisanti: He seems the type to root against family.
Cindy Boren (Wash Post): I’d hope he’d go w/his bro…just this once.
Ryan Ruocco (ESPN 1050 NY): bro…blood wins always
Tao of Stieb: Shit dude, who do you think I am? Al McGuire? The most I know about college hoops is that Pervis Ellison was awesome.
Chad Moriyama: Gotta go with blood, right?
Wallace Matthews (ESPN New York): if he roots for a college over his brother, there’s something wrong in that family
Brooke Hundley: family first, but not until they’re in the big leagues, so I’d say go alma mater ;-)
Erin Sharoni (St John’s beat): family ties are hard to break.
Baseball America: Not all BAers went to UNC! Better question for @johnmanuelba or @willlingo
Dave Sims (Mariners Broadcaster, Partner of Coach K on his satellite radio program): His bro!
Steve Rushin: Gotta go with bro. Or ‘brough, rather.
Jonah Keri (Author, The Extra 2%): Bro!
Keith Law: Continuing to ask me a question about college basketball will not change the fact that I don’t like college basketball. (Ed. note- Keith Law is so SABR, he apparently won’t even entertain a theoretical question. So meta…)

Carolina Connections

Hinton James: ah ’tis a quandry many men have faced. Though I think alma mater is thicker than blood…my bias may prevail I fear.
Molly Sullivan (Las Vegas-based reporter, UNC alum): Excellent question! I would go with our Tar Heels over Big Ben. Then again, it’s more fun to root for people than teams.
Brooke Baldwin (CNN Anchor): oooh toughie. UNC. natch.
Megg Connelly: Hansbrough dilemma is like me having to ref a mud wrestling comp btwn Andy Roddick & Philip Rivers. No matter what, I win.

People I went to Chaminade With (or wished I did)

Gene Brtalik: blood is thicker than water
Steve Reddy: brother, no doubt. I can’t believe you spent 2 hours sending that out. Bieber? Kardashian? Pauly D? SO RANDOM. Love it!
Tim Schirmer: I would and will root for whoever they play in the next round

Other Semi-Celebs

Craig Breslow (Oakland A’s): He roots for #Yale
Raynell Cooper (2011 Jeopardy Teen Challenge Champ): That’s a tough call. Probably his brother, family>alma mater
Jay 4:20 (J-Woww mentioned him on Jersey Shore): Yes, lol (Ed. note- what?)

Posted in College, Sports | Tagged , | 4 Comments