For anyone who wants some great running music, or for all those fans out there at the Burrito Mile who wanted to know what I was listening to...here you go!

Gonna Fly Now (John X remix) - Rocky Balboa
Top of the World - All-American Rejects
Headstrong- Ashley Tisdale
Suzie - Boy Kill Boy
Let It Go- Escape The Fate
Bang Bang - K'naan
Closer to Love-Mat Kearney
To The Beat of Our Noisey Hearts- Matt Nathanson
Halo/Walking on Sunshine - Glee
3 Little Words- Frankmusik
Tik Tok and Boom Boom Bang- Ke$ha
I Want You So Hard - Eagles of Death Metal
Who's Got Your Money?- Tina Parol
Say Aah- Trey Songz

and...

We Will Rock You - Queen

Note to those in attendance: the tracks on my running playlist will be available very soon!

Note to everyone else: This was all done for charity. (You will soon discover just how far I will go for charity.)

UGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have always seen those eating events on TV, whether it is the hotdog eating contest at Coney Island or the plethora of monstrosities seen on Man vs. Food, and a small part of me has always wanted to try it. ...I may have gotten a little bit over my head.

What do I mean by over my head you may wonder?  A 4 person 2-mile relay. Each person must eat a burrito before running their half mile. Easy enough, right?  Eat the burrito as fast as you can, run 2 laps and hand off to your next teammate...who happened to be me. That teammates handed off to me.  Oh yeah, and the anchor? Me. (In my mind: Remember Greg...this is for charity!)

Records are kept for the fastest mile while eating one burrito, the fastest 2-mile relay team and, oh yeah, the fastest single person relay team. The record for the single person relay? 59:34.

Now I run marathons, so a two-mile run seemed like nothing. Running is easy, so that would give me an ample amount of time to finish 4 burritos, right? (again, UGHHHHHHH)

First two burritos, and a 1 mile run, was finished in under 14 minutes. That's when I started pacing myself, and when my stomach began saying enough is enough. I had a strategy: eat the largest burrito first (vegetarian), then eat the steak, follow it with the chicken and finish with the last vegetarian. (Note to self: Never have a plan for something is sure to go wrong.)

Everyone was so amped about me being the only one doing the solo relay that they were handing me my burritos as I came back to the eating table. They gave me my second vegetarian first. My stomach was filled on the vegetarian, and the longer the meat sat around the chewier it got.  What I had left was 1 chicken burrito and 1 steak burrito...UGHHHHH! (And even again, UGHHHH)

So what happened? I crushed the record time. I paced my third and fourth burritos, cleansed my stomach after each and sprinted off. Trust me, the seasoning on the chicken did not sit well AT ALL as I started my third run.  The steak felt even worse.  (Solution: next time get ONLY vegetarian burritos!)

Running is easy, but never again will the solo burrito relay be a cross-training. Running on that full of a stomach is beyond painful, but I knew when I had finished 1.5 miles in 34 minutes that this was over. It took a while to eat the last burrito (the fact that it was a steak burrito made matters beyond nauseating), the fact that it was steak made it unbearably nauseating.  My stomach felt so hard that all I wanted to do was sit down. So I cleared off the table and sat, all the while everyone was screaming and chanting my name. (I guess I really am an inspiration.)

And to think, I almost left my Ipod at home. My marathon playlist was my saving grace from the streaming swarms of cheers. Without it, I probably would have fainted.

I paced the last burrito knowing my running speed was right around marathon pace thus far. I was able to clear my stomach and off I ran to finish my final two laps. Every runner at that high school followed behind me.

As I finished the first lap, I turned around a la Rocky 2 and encouraged the entire swarm and crowd to follow me and cheer me on. Everyone deserved to be part of that moment--that's what champions do! I never would have known about, or shown up, to the event if Danny hadn't told me about it. We only get so far in life because others help us and carry us along the way.

(Apparently I am considered a hero to some of the people at the event today. Admiration is admiration. It's definitely a start to where I want to get myself. I guess this is one of the first "talents" I can be recognized for...hopefully more to come!)

I turned around, Bang Bang by K'naan came up on my Ipod and off I went, keeping one foot in front of the other. By the time I got to the 100 meter mark, I took off, sprinting through the human-made arm gates and busting through the blue ribbon finish line.

My time? Just over 51 minutes. It definitely broke the record, but what good is setting a record if it isn't broken? I mean, if my eating order didn't get discombobulated, I probably would have had a much easier time. Hopefully someone will go sub-50 on me and have as much painful fun as I did. I definitely left that window open. Then again, any pain is worth it when for charity. To us, the pain is transient. To those being helped by charity, it's lasting.

It may sound ridiculous, but I have no right to complain about the pain of that event when the proceeds of my pain/entertainment are going towards helping to cure their pain. Aside from some disgusting burps, I'm healed. (I will never eat a burrito again, but I'm healed) We only gave a little, but it all accumulates. Even if it means completely embarassing myself, it's worth it for charity.

And besides, in the end, I came out the hero. Everyone there cheered for me, for breaking a trivial "WR." It makes life fun though. It made me smile, which I definitely needed and I made a difference. That's all you can want out of life: Eat. Smile. Live. Live Meaningfully. This is one cross-training experience I will never plan to duplicate for a marathon, but it sure was fun. Anything should be done for charity, but sometimes it's great to just do something ridiculous and stupid for yourself simply because it is fun. Danny, and the other friends I made there, made this one of the highlights of this year. If I can handle the 4x8urrito, the Boston Marathon is a breeze.

Anyone at that event can feel free to friend me on Facebook-- pictures, hugs and autographs are limited, but may still be available =)  Thanks for a great time today everybody!

I'm a little behind with my posts. I am going to add them in tomorrow since all I am doing is resting from this crazy long exam I am taking today. I studied very well for it while I was in Florida, and treated my week of studying similar to a week before a marathon run. I split the material I still had to learn in small portions over the first half of the week and tapered off as the week progressed. I only reviewed my notes one time on Thursday and Friday and then promised myself I wouldn't look at any notes anymore. I know the material, so there is no reason to overstress and burnout my mind on it.

In other news, Disney World is exactly what I needed. I'm leaving for my exam in a half hour, but I have plenty to write about regarding how amazing and perfect my day at Disney was. I went on Tuesday and my Magic Kingdom high kept my spirits elevated to unmatched levels for the rest of my time in Florida. My runs definitely felt easier. Worries were pushed aside, I let my mind go a bit and just had fun.

I gotta get ready for this exam and get going. But seriously, any opportunity you can take, whether it be for a minute or a week, just free your mind.  No worries, no doubts and let yourself run where you naturally want to go.

That's what my trip to Disney World gave me. The escape was for a day, but its effects lasted the rest of that week. I know I will stll have worries on my mind. There are some things I'm still not over yet, but I'm closer to closure than I was last week, even yesterday. Disney made me smile-- smile to the point of tears and crying. That magical world showed me that even though I may have stress in my life, it's transient. I've got happiness in me, and that happiness is going to outlast these worries.

Remember to smile, and if you need a little help, ride on Dumbo or at least buy a snowglobe or statue. I did all three. My silver-plated Mickey statue is sitting right next to my computer.  It's a plaque with a black platformed base on the bottom and a plated quote with text along the front of the base.  I wanted something that reflected my life. The quote at the bottom is from Walt Disney. "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." Seems kinda appropriate, right? That feeling is only magnified considering that I bought it at Disney World. The statue itself was bought at a place where I was happiest-- that's the source. That emotion lasts. I'm reminded of that memory each time I look at the statue now. It asdds even more depth and meaning to the quote.

All right, time to take this test. Big things are coming. Always strive for big things :)

8 days in Florida: 1 perfect trip to Disney, 1 recovery day and 6 running days. I doubled my entire run total from February in that one week…what a week!

I just got in from my final run. Each day had progressively gotten better than the last. It sounds like the weather has improved at home. Snow has been melting, and just like the weather seems to be doing in Maryland, I finally feel like I am coming back around too.

I just want to feel like myself. That’s what I deserve. Everyone deserves to have control in their own lives. I just needed to clear my mind and reorganize my priorities. What I discovered is how beneficial what I am trying to do is…for me. If it’s not doing anything for me, how can my actions be meaningful to other people?

I run marathons. I win them. I do this because I can, because I have cultured my ability to do the “impossible.” My story may be miraculous, but I’m just Greg. I may do amazing things, but each of us can. I rediscovered my ability and desire to perform to my utmost ability just from running around Florida for a week. Sometimes a change of scenery is all you need.

Life is full of transitions. We go through many stages of closure and beginnings. They interconnect. I was finally able to bring my 2009 ending to a close. Now, as I leave Florida today, I’m sprinting back into 2010 to catch up to today. After my week here, I have definitely found my stamina so that I can increase my pace through March and catch up to where I want to be by the time I run the Boston Marathon on April 19^th.

What I learned from my trip is to embrace happiness. As important as it is to eye your goal, embracing happiness makes striving for that goal an effortless part of your day. It becomes part of who you are every day.

I needed to smile. Disney World made me smile to the point of tears. My day at Magic Kingdom reminded me of how life is meant to feel. I could walk on air. When I ran Boston in 2008, I felt like I was running on air.

It’s all coming back. Just you wait and see what’s in store next.