Joe Dirt

this is just quality…

Mustaches and mullets

Hello world.

This week has been such an interesting week of nothing. After finishing up the semester of classes and realizing how much of my life was consumed by homework, classes, and exams, i now had a big hole to fill in my daily schedule. I quickly found an easy fix for the gap in my schedule (SLEEP!!!).

In preparation for this upcoming track season, i decided that this was a great time to bring the mustache into effect. So i decided that a mustache would just work out perfectly. I’ve had the “stache” for 5 days, and i already have 35 bad looks, 14 jokes cracked, and 10 people pissed off.

With my creeper stache’ and all, God has been showing up in my life big time lately. After 3 weeks of training, i have managed to be in the best shape of my life thus far in my UNF career. As i crossed the line at the Festival of Lights 5k in Jacksonville, i could not help and throw a shout out to the man upstairs for giving me the energy to accomplish my goal. This was the first race i had in which i was not nervous or with a “something to prove” attitude (I also have to give a big shout out to the “Doc” a.k.a Coach Paul Davis who set me up with a pretty good plan for this winter). God works in such crazy ways because the last thing i was expecting around this time of year was a fresh P.R.

we officially have 21 days until we get on the grind of practicing and tearing up workouts. My mother always told me that everyday gets shorter, and i find myself running through time everyday. I feel really blessed for each day that i have to live. But, sometimes we forget to gives our thanks to God when we are standing well. I’ve been working on breaking out of that habit because as soon as we are in a bad spot, the first person we seek is God. But are we seeking God when we find success, or when we get a bonus at work? I think us as humans, forget the abilities God has blessed us with. The ability to work, run, speak, listen. We overlook these things constantly until their gone. This week i saw the life of a young teen gone, in a motorcycle accident. We only live once, and the fact that we are alive is such a blessing. After a great workout with my teammate chase, i was humbled by the fact that even tho we may see that workout as an important accomplishment in our training cycle, it could all be over in a snap with one wrong move. I can only pray that i stay on tract with the plans of God so that we don’t go down the wrong path. Just a thought…..

But for now, i am super excited to continue training and have my trust in the Lord. I don’t know where i will end up at the end of this journey, but i am excited to put all my training to work this spring AO1!!!

A very long journey…..

Well, after about 3 months of procrastination, i finally got off my lazy butt and decided to make a blog. I actually like to write (believe or not) ha-ha. I guess an introduction would be somewhat proper, even tho anyone reading this probably already knows me. My name is Gilbert Vazquez. But i hardly ever go by that. Perhaps Squez’, Vazquez, or Gil are more common. Any-who, i wanted to make a blog so i can share my personal experiences about running and general life. So i guess here is a little background:

My father was a runner in his age, which was influenced by His older brother who ran pretty well. Back in Puerto Rico, they didn’t have an actual “track” so to say, but more of a grass field they ran circles around. A bunch of road running with loose dogs and horses was what my dad described to me. So growing up and knowing that my dad competed, almost motivated me to run (and the fact that i sucked at everything else). I didn’t begin to run until i was in high school competing in track only because i thought short shorts were gay. My first race was the 1600m on a cement track with sprint spikes. Yes, sprint spikes…at the time i thought i would be a sprinter…big mistake. Time goes by, and after alot of nagging from the XC coach, i found myself on the football team at my high school and running Cross Country. All went well, until the day i decided to go to a race and skip out on practice. My football coach benched me from the game, however put me in on extra points since i was the only place holder for field goals. Me thinking it was unfair to be benched, decided to pull the field goal and run it for two points. AS SOON AS I PULLED THE SNAP, I KNEW THIS WAS A BIG, BIG MISTAKE. I ran towards the end zone and just got demolished by this big black guy who was furious!!! To add insult to injury, coach kicked me off the team and i found myself running Cross Country full time. This is where i think God is really crazy, he took one thing which at the time i thought was the worst thing in my life and made it into a precious gift. After a few weeks, i found my love for running. After a summer season of actually running, i managed to run 16:08 5k pr, a 4:27 1600m, and a 9:47 two mile. Now these times are not great, i agree, but after seeing my life fall down, or at least what i thought was my life falling down, i found myself at the University of North Florida campus, getting ready to run on a new team with people i didn’t know.

Thats how i got to UNF. As crazy as it seems, God opens and closes doors when he wants to. At the time, we may not understand why or how things happen. But looking back at my past, i can easily say that God has the ULTIMATE plan for those who rely on him and believe. I have learned that no matter what twists and turns get thrown your way in the race of life, you have to remain focused at the task at hand, and that is the finishline.

After a couple years of let downs and mistakes, i have finally found the path again, and i am striving  on this path until i reach my goals. Isaiah 40:31(ESV) states:

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

they shall walk and not faint.

until next time folks!

Gil.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. After you read this, you should delete and write your own post, with a new title above. Or hit Add New on the left (of the admin dashboard) to start a fresh post.

Here are some suggestions for your first post.

1. You can find new ideas for what to blog about by reading the Daily Post.
2. Add PressThis to your browser. It creates a new blog post for you about any interesting  page you read on the web.
3. Make some changes to this page, and then hit preview on the right. You can always preview any post or edit it before you share it to the world.