Guest Interview: Nathan Gonzalez

Happy Tuesday! If you’ll recall, earlier in the week I posted about a fundraiser for Nathan Gonzalez, who’s trying to raise money to get his iBot wheelchair fixed before the factory closes for good. 

The backstory here is that I saw this post on reddit last Monday. To summarize, Nathan is a former Marine who served two tours but was hit by a drunk driver and paralyzed on his return. He's done some great stuff and overcome a lot, but you'll read more about that in a bit. Nathan is trying to get some crucial repairs done on a special wheelchair he uses which has the ability to climb steps. Unfortunately, the company is going out of business and closing its doors on 3/31. The repairs, therefore, need to be done before that.

I caught up with Nathan and asked him a few questions about life, love and beer. Or more accurately, life, San Antonio, and beer.

K: Hey, Nathan! Great to meet you. Let’s talk hashing. What’s your hash name?

N: Porno Rican

K: Where’s your mother hash?

N: Okinawa, Japan. Started in 1998.

K: Home hash?

N: Cross between San Antonio H3, Kiss My H3, and Alamo City Humpin’ Hash. Basically, San Antonio.

K: In how many cities have you hashed?

N: 10+, mostly in the Pacific.

K: Did you have a favorite?

N: Okinawa, of course.

K: What made it so great?

N: The terrain varied so much and the trails and parks were amazing.  Shiggy, Shiggy, Shiggy! My favorite trail I ran and hared was a Lemming long trail, which was about 4 miles long. We ran the pack to a 25-foot cliff up against the ocean.  We had a safety swimmer in the water and the pack had to jump off into the water like lemmings and swim about 100 yards to an adjacent island where we had a huge bonfire going.  If anyone didn’t want to swim, they could walk 2 miles across a bridge instead.  It was my favorite hash.

K: Let’s go back to your home hash, which is currently San Antonio. Are you from there originally?

N: Yeah, I’m from SA.

K: Cool! I’m originally from San Antonio, too. Where did you go to high school?

N: I went to Jefferson High School. Class of 1996.

K: Are you a Spurs fan?

N: Haha, if you live in San Antonio, you are raised to be a Spurs fan. We’re only the best team in the league with the best records. I can’t even remember when we didn’t make the playoffs. Sucks about last year but I’m sure we’ll repeat this year.

K: Who’s your favorite player?

N: I’d say Manu Ginobili. Dude is versatile in and out of the paint. Although I also love [Danny] Green and his killer 3-pointers.

K: One of your pictures shows you making a Roadrunners sign with your hand, which is like the Longhorn equivalent for the University of Texas at San Antonio. Did you attend UTSA?

N: Yeah, I just graduated in December.

K: What was your major?

N: I received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Management with a concentration in Entrepreneurship.

K: Very nice. I read online that you were part of a project team that was nominated for an award. Tell me a little about that.

N: My Senior Project for my Entrepreneurship class was to work on a product that the engineering students had been working on during the prior semester, which was a mind-controlled wheelchair. It was our team’s job to take their product, build a business plan, model and market it.  Along with getting patents, FDA approvals, and companies to partner up with us it was a challenging process to finish in just a semester.

Essentially, you would take an EEG Headset, basically a head harness with leads on it, and this headset would pick up electrical signals.  These were then interpreted by an Arduino board, sent to a computer, and fed to the chair as commands.  It takes some training for the computer to recognize the thought commands but it was really cool to see the product in action.  

We competed with a wide range of other products in the competition for a $100,000 prize.  We came in 4^th, which was pretty cool in its own right.  I had a good team though.  Who knows what they'll think of next.

K: Have you been able to attend many UTSA football games?

N: Unfortunately, I’ve only been to a couple.  I just didn't have time with studies.  I hope to go more now that I have the free time.

K: I also see you’re a Marine. Thank you for your service. How long did you serve?

N: I served just over 6 years before I was medically retired due to injuries. 

K: What’s your favorite beer?

N: Well, Lone Star is our hash beer but outside the hash I like pilsners or light beers. Stella, Carlsberg, DosXX.

K: What do you do for a living?

N: Currently, I handle billing and invoicing for my family’s business. It takes up 3-4 hours per week. I’m job hunting right now, so if you know anything…

K: So, you’re trying to get your iBot wheelchair fixed because the company is going out of business. What makes the iBot chair different from most?

N: Well, the main thing that separates the iBot from others is the stair climbing feature.  This chair is like a mini ATV.  It has the ability to climb a 8” curb.  This really is the only reason why I want to save my chair.  The little feature is invaluable to me to.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve had to use it to traverse something in my way.  I’ve been to parks that have a curb and no ramped walkway to get up onto the grass. I’ve gone to older restaurants that were grandfathered into the requirement for an ADA ramp and had to use that step climber to get in.  Also, not all sidewalks are wheelchair friendly. Sometimes, I have no choice but to jump the curb and drive on the street.  Without it I’d have to double back blocks and then take the street.  Both my parents’ and my brother’s homes have 5” steps.  Visiting them without this feature is difficult. 

Additionally, this chair has a lift feature that allows my seat to raise up to a bar level.  It makes a big difference in how people treat you and interact with you.  Being in a wheelchair people naturally look down on you all the time.  Being eye level people engage you more and treat you with more respect in my opinion.  Although other chairs have similar features, ibot can go higher.  I can up upright to just under 6’.  One of the best parts is that it balances on two wheels, which leaves a smaller foot print when moving around.  Lastly…it just looks cool. It’s a perfect Hash chair in and out of circle. 

K: Outside of hashing, do you have any other hobbies?

N: My Facebook shows it all mostly.  I’m a movie nut, I religiously follow most popular TV shows, I’m a hard core gamer. I’ve also enjoyed sky diving, scuba diving, and of course, I’m a hasher. 

K: Awesome! Thanks for taking the time and I hope you're able to get the repairs done for your chair.

Thanks for reading! For more information or to donate to Nathan's cause, click here. 

10 Day Challenge: Report Card

I started out really strong, but ultimately finished the challenge 70% successful. I guess that's a C in report card terms. My biggest victory was probably on Wednesday, when I went to work, ran home from work, ran to the PIT for my intern shift, then ran home when I was done. I was very determined and wish I could have carried that through in the following days.

Unfortunately, I had some stuff happen on Thursday that made it a little hard to do much of anything other than try to take care of it. Friday I managed a little over five before I met someone for drinks. Saturday was good and I got in 10-11 with Amortya in the morning. Sunday was so so and again, I only managed about 5.

Today, I didn't run, and that was probably the worst of the whole thing. I didn't really have a good reason, only general disappointment at the rest of the challenge. What I learned was that running 10 miles a day is a vastly easier task when you don't have too much going on than it is when life is in full swing. When I try this again, I'll have a better plan in place.

That aside, please take a look at this fundraiser and donate, if you can. Nathan Gonzalez is a hasher from San Antonio, and he needs to get his wheelchair fixed before the manufacturer closes on 3/31. This particular wheelchair has the ability to climb stairs, which I imagine greatly increases his mobility. Take a look:

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/ds44/save-my-wheelchair-fund

10 Day Challenge: Day 4

Not much to report. I did a loop from home to the gym and it was very slow. I know I've mentioned that I don't mind the starting and stopping, but there are definitely some cons. I would like to be doing more than just getting in some mile when I do city loops. I therefore need to be more cognizant of my pace when I'm doing them.

Anyway, I ran slightly over 5 miles in about 50 minutes. I then did some arms and abs and continued onto the treadmill, where I did a progression run. I started out at 6 miles per hour (a 10 minute/mile pace) and kept that up until mile 2, when I increased to 6.5mph. At 3 miles, I increased to 6.7. From then on, it went like this:

3.1: increase to 6.9 mph
3.2: increase to 7.1 mph
3.3: increase to 7.2 mph
3.4: increase to 7.4 mph
3.5: increase to 7.5 mph
3.6: increase to 7.7 mph
3.7: increase to 7.8 mph
3.8: increase to 7.9 mph
3.9: increase to 8.5 mph
4.0: increase to 9.0 mph

End at 4.05. Also, here is a picture of the blood blister I developed yesterday. Don't be scandalized!

New Motivation: 10 Day Challenge

Hi, folks. I don't know about you, but I am super over this weather. I would love spring to get here as quickly as possible.

One thing that has suffered a bit due to the relentless cold is my training. It's not the only problem, but it's doing me no favors. I decided to combat this by challenging myself to run 10 miles per day for 10 days. This challenge began on Saturday.

Saturday, I did a nice, big loop that I mapped out on MapMyRun. I'd show it, but it's a little too geographically explicit. It went north up to 54th Street, west to the river, south to Warren Street, and north again for a grand total of 10.54 miles. My time was nothing spectacular. In fact, it was slow-ish. I think I did it in 1:50 and change. To be fair, street runs are normally slow due to stopping for traffic. This frustration is what keeps most people I know from running on city streets. Doesn't stop me!

Sunday, I did something a little different. I ran a much smaller 5-mile loop from home to the gym, did 5 half mile repeats at about 7:12 min/mile with a half mile warmup and cooldown plus a quarter mile between each sprint for a total of 4.5 miles. I topped it off with a run home from the gym for an extra mile or so.

And tonight, I kept things simple and did another big loop. I'm not putting many restrictions on this whole thing. I just need to get back into a rhythm and be confident again about training. This may or may not do the trick, but it's made the last three days better.

Stay tuned for Day 4!

Welcome to 2014

Hi, all. Sorry it's been so long. I hope you guys had a nice time with your family and friends over the holidays. Maybe you were able to squeeze in some workouts. I did, but I only just managed. Should've done better.

I never even wrote my race summaries for the marathon or the 60k. Or talked about my grand slam! I had a rockin' end of 2013.

Unfortunately, the beginning of 2014 has been less than ideal. I feel like I've been in a bit of a funk and haven't been able to train the way I would like to. Or haven't been motivated? I don't really know. I suppose we all have our good times and our bad times. So far, my training has been on the worse end of the spectrum.

Comedic endeavors are also in a lull, though we do have a show on February 25. I hope to have cleaned up my act all around by that point and to have written about my progress, but if I don't, hopefully I'll see you at the show.

A Little Perspective

I often have nights where I stay up way too late for no particularly good reason. In fact, I'm having one right now. You can probably relate. Or maybe, could at some point. It's some sort of restlessness. I feel like I should be doing something (and often do) but am not sure what.

This evening (morning, at this point?), I looked over my weekly blog stats (don't judge) and saw three views on a post from 2011. This one, to be exact. It caught my attention because the title was simple and intriguing. I couldn't remember what I'd been writing about, but I was interested enough to click on the link and find out.

It was a post celebrating my first time breaking 2 hours in the half marathon. More important than the actual time, though, was the fact that I learned something deeper. I ran for a long time with no particular goal or vision for my future and one day, I realized I could have more than that. I could do more than that.

I confronted that truth in this post and decided I could either drift aimlessly along in running, maintaining the same love/hate relationship I'd had with it since I started. Or I could set concrete goals and work hard and smart to achieve them. This particular aspect of my drive is one I've long since begun to take for granted. When I think about running before I came to this conclusion, I have a hard time remembering why I stuck with it. Whatever my motivation was in my first three or so years of running, I'm glad I did.

Reading this reminded me that running is about the macro lessons (self reflection, relationships) as much as or more than the micro lessons (times, PRs, etc). I hope I'm still learning as much as I was two years ago. Two years from now, I hope I can say the same.

Race Report: Beach2Battleship - Part 4

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you spent it eating too much food with people you love. Second, I really need to get better at doing these in a timely fashion. The details fade so quickly. I guess at least I remember the important parts.

I grabbed my T2 bag and ran over to the second changing tent. Again, not really necessary in my case, but I still had minor changing to do. I pulled my bike shorts and tights off, switched my bike shoes with my running shoes, and put on my hat and sunglasses. I remember someone offering some sort of painkiller. I think I had a small headache developing, so I took it. Then, I exited the tent and handed off my T2 bag to a volunteer. Finally, I was off on the run.

They had us do a strange little out and back in the first loop, which I can only assume was the .2 of the marathon. It then came back past the finish line and through a pretty little downtown area that was full of spectators. By the time I was coming through, there was still a fair number of half iron athletes out on the course and I appreciated their enthusiasm, even if it wasn't specifically for me.

Guys, I was totally into this marathon. Normally, this would embarrass me, but I am totally comfortable saying that I crushed it. I can't claim all the credit, though, because the course was highly conducive to being crushed. With very few exceptions, it was flat. Plus, the temperature was nice (mostly, though I did find that it got cold later at night). Mentally, I was able to get in fast and deep. From almost the first mile, I took it step by step and resolved that I would not walk outside of aid stations. I'm proud to say that I didn't.

I had it in my head that I wasn't well-trained for this race. I think this still might be true, but in the sense that I didn't train to my full potential. That, however, is a discussion for a different day. Since I thought I was ill-prepared, my goal was to finish. Once I got to North Carolina and realized I might be better off than I thought, my new goal was to finish the marathon in 5 hours.

So heading out on the run, that was my goal. I was determined not to walk beyond the aid stations because walking breaks are such a slippery slope. I was probably 10 miles in when I realized I could not only break 5 hours on the marathon, but I had a really decent chance of breaking 14 hours for the whole thing. And that was my goal going into this year! There was a chance I'd accomplish one of my goals for the year! Game on.

The race course consisted of two 13 mile loops. I ran the whole thing strong because I felt good for approximately 25.2 of the miles. I was passed by very few people, particularly later in the race simply because I refused to walk. I took things one mile at a time and just ran from aid station to aid station (there was one at each mile). I started out the run wearing my bike jacket, but quickly found it to be too hot, so left it with one of the volunteers at the Mile 3 aid station, intending to return for it on the way back.

The volunteers were amazing, as were the rest of the athletes running. I saw an Everyday Triathlete on the course, which was awesome. Also, I saw my mom halfway through the run which was a big boost. I also made a couple of race friends. Sometime between the beginning of the race and halfway through, I realized there was one guy in particular that I'd keep passing and falling behind. While he was running, he'd pass me. When he'd start walking, I'd pass him. And so it went, for many miles. Sometime around the halfway point, we started talking and introduced ourselves. His name was Todd and we commiserated over both still being on the first lap. Todd stopped to get his special needs bag and I continued on, figuring I'd see him again and we would continue as we had for the first half of the race.

I really enjoyed my second trip past the finish line and the bulk of the spectators. My determination must have been showing through, because almost everyone said "hey, good pace!" as I ran by. That's what I like to think, though in all honesty it was probably just something they were saying to everyone. Still, though, it was hard not to feel happy and strong with all that encouragement. I was a little frustrated by the fact that I saw no mile markers between miles 12 and 15. Obviously, I knew approximately how far I'd gone because the finish line was basically the halfway point, but still.

Things got a little tougher around this point. It was pretty much dark and significantly colder. Adding to the darkness of night was the fact a couple of the street lamps went out, and I could see literally nothing in those short stretches.

Around mile 20, I met a man and we started running together and chatting. His name was Andy, and as luck would have it, he was trying to break 14 hours as well! I was happy to have a companion in my quest. After awhile, we even passed by Todd and invited him to come break 14 hours with us. He started running with us and we ran as a trio for a bit.

At about mile 23, though, Todd had fallen back a bit and Andy started cramping. He told me to go on ahead. I was conflicted, because I was hesitant to leave. I asked if he was sure and told him to catch up when he could, but did continue on. Maybe a mile later, though, I did a quick hip stretch and heard him call out behind me not to stop! Andy was back! Right around the 24 mile mark, we passed a bar and a bunch of drunk people who were very good at cheering. Once I got to the aid station, I grabbed my jacket and ran back to catch up with Andy for the home stretch.

After half a mile to a mile, though, I started hurting. It was some sort of abdominal cramp? I couldn't even really tell where it was, but it came quickly and hit me hard. At first, I was able to ignore it. Soon enough, though, it hurt too much to speak. I let Andy know what was happening with all the words I could manage (not many) but by this point, we were absolutely both dead set on breaking 14 hours. Even better, Todd found us once more. He ran up behind us and said something like "so, we breaking 14 hours, or what?" which I loved, even though I couldn't express it and could barely even acknowledge that he'd made it back.

We approached the finish line and Andy found his daughters, who ran into the finish chute to cross the finish line with him. And I saw my mom! Andy and his daughters crossed the line just a second or two before Todd and I did, but we all finished a solid couple minutes under 14 ours. I accomplished one more 2013 goal before the year was up! We gave hugs all around, and introductions were made. Andy thanked me for helping him break 14, but we helped each other. I don't remember if I did, but I hope I thanked him back.

Todd walked away before I really got a chance for thanks and congratulations, but we hugged before that. Afterward, I grabbed grub and a beer and cheersed Andy before heading back to the hotel.

This post has already run really long, but I want to hammer home the point that I had a really good race,  in spite of myself and all my worrying and anxiety. I didn't just race a good race, I also just enjoyed it. Beforehand, I worried that I'd forgotten how to triathlon since it was my first and only race of the year, but it was not true! I remembered how to do everything and was very comfortable. It was amazing and I was very glad to have shared the whole experience with my mom, and the crucial part of the marathon with Todd and Andy.

I didn't edit this, so I apologize for the length and mistakes.

A picture my mom took