This Land Was Made for You and Me.

I hope everybody had a fun and safe Fourth of July!

This past weekend was another big test with a 12 miler on the schedule. It went really well, I ran at a decent pace and I felt fine the rest of the day. Even the day after my legs weren't sore at all. I'm rounding into shape.

Fareed Zakaria once said that the United States is unique in that it's the only country where you can become American. He said that if he moved to any other country, say China or Germany, he wouldn't have the same opportunity to become Chinese or German. This point is especially poignant when I think about my grandfather leaving South America in his early teens and fast-forward sitting with him in Candlestick Park watching the Niners. He lived the experience of becoming American, and sports were a key part of that story.

My grandfather talked about playing baseball and soccer as a kid, and even when his life was defined by tumult he found relief in sports. My grandmother once told me that my grandfather was determined to learn the rules of football as part of the process of becoming American. I grew up watching football and I couldn't imagine learning a game, as he did while learning the rules of football, the rules of which change while the ball is in play. He loved golf dearly and played any time he could. His office had souvenirs from Pebble Beach and St. Andrew's. When my sister and I were young, he would take us out on the course with him. We were too young to swing the wrenches, but we would rifle through the rough, picking up derelict golf balls and take turns driving the cart. He was also a huge baseball fan, having once told me that there was a point in his life that if the Giants lost, it ruined his week. One day we were driving around San Francisco and he really wanted to see the new ballpark. We walked around a bit, he told me stories about Willie Mays, and I took his picture in front of the statue of Willie Mays. He got me a Giants hat that day and it has become my running hat. It seems fitting to wear the hat he got me for a marathon I'm running in his memory,

You can see from the two pictures below whose for hair I inherited... 

A lot of what has contributed to my love of sports comes from both sides of my family. My dad may not have a classical athlete's stature, but he's always a crafty competitor. During games of H-O-R-S-E, my dad would put on a Globetrotter-esque show of trick shots. In ping-pong, he would apply such wild spin on the ball that my sister and I would accuse him of cheating (until he traded paddles with us and continued the mind-boggling volleys, laughing the whole time). My mother and I share a love for narrative in sport. She's very interested in the relationships between players, and what a win would mean to a certain player on a personal level. My mom's dad passed away before I was born, but I have often been told about how he would watch football on TV while listening to the Twins on the radio and reading the sports page. 

My family is important to me, sports are important, and for the Fourth of July these are the things I think about. 

I'll leave you with a throwback to last year's Grandma's Half Marathon that I ran with Kris, Emily, and Sara. Try to guess what our theme was.