So sorry i havent posted in a while. Life has been crazy!
On wedneday I had to write an English paper on my life metor (I will post it below if anyone wants to ready it...I got a pretty good grade ;) So that took up a nice chunk of my night since i put it off until the last night. I went to Hobart to run and did a nice workout. It was 10X400 at 3K w/ 1 min rec. It went super!
On thursday school was pretty boring. Running wise I did a double easy run to get ready for Fridays race.
On Friday we packed everything we need for the pro start competiton in mock of the real thing!
Fridays race was fun. Mike Tripp and I switched leads every lap which was fun. He beat me in 4:28 and I ran 4:29. I'm happy we both did well :)
Today we went and did everything we will do at the competiton start to finish. It was so much fun and intese. I really think we are ready to rock!!!
As for running I did two regular runs.
I hit 94 miles this week!!! My most ever!!!!

Also, Sectionals is on Ash Wednesday!! I will race with ashes on!
God Bless and be yourself.
-Brian

Here is my essay...
“Running, one might say, is basically an absurd pastime in which to be exhausting ourselves. But, if you can find meaning in the type of running it takes to stay on this team, then chances are you will be able to find meaning in another absurd past time…life.” Once said to me and many times proven true, it changed my life.
I embarked on the pathway of running in seventh grade. I can still flashback to watching my brother Matt run when I was in sixth grade. He was not very pronounced, but still attempted devotion. I would watch and watch and still ask the perplexing question “Why do runners run?”
“Look at Dinan accelerate.” My chest heaving in and out; my bones feel like they are going to crush under the pressure of oxygen and carbon dioxide transfer. “He is so close. 4:16…4:17..” My stride lengthens and my heart pounds as if trying to escape the malevolent body it is trapped in. My legs are in complete oxygen debt. Neuromuscular breakdown happened about a lap ago. “…4:18…4:19” The line is so near. Is it more than .9 seconds away? “FIRE! FIRE,” I shriek internally to my legs. “4:20...4:21…Brian Dinan 4:21.” “NO!” I shout as I awake sweaty and out of breath. My heart pounds. I look around at the other athletes resting in preparation for the State Meet that starts in the morning. Phew, it was only a dream or rather, a nightmare.
Why would my brother be my mentor? I thought brothers were supposed to be someone you fight with? Argue with? Yes, we do that. Countless times. We would likely forget how to walk before we forgot how to disagree. So, wait…why is he my mentor? We have the same feelings as every brother has for another. I am smarter and better at everything, of course. There must be something out of the norm.
“COME ON BRIAN! ALL OUT! MAKE THIS THE HARDEST 400 METERS OF YOUR FUCKING LIFE,” Matt yells at me as the bell clangs in recognition of my final lap. As I stare at the crowd, I know I am finally going to achieve my dream. I look at the clock that reads “3:18” (66/lap). 4:19 has to be under 65 per lap I say internally. Damn it. My stride lengthens in a habitual manner. My arms pump, my chest heaves. The race I have been ambitiously training for six months for and it looks like it will end in disappointment. All the pieces to the puzzle are there, I tell myself. The only piece lingering is the heart to make a dream a reality. “4:19” I say again. As I take over the lead I know I am fast and strong. “Go, go, go,” Matt yells at me. I look into his eyes if only for a moment; then the moment’s gone. This fraction of a second look changes the outcome, perhaps my life. As I look into his eyes I see envy and passion. I see want and need. At times want and need is hard to decipher. As in “Living Like Weasel’s,” it is hard to tell what is want and what is need. I know if he was in my position he would do whatever it takes. So why do I think a 5:20 miler at best would run under 62 seconds right now?
Matthew always had the want to be good. Every day he thought about it and trained for it. It is hard to attempt something over and over and fail. He expected different results. They say doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is a sign of insanity. Was Matt insane? For a 6’3”, broad shouldered, 18 year old, it was insane to think distance running was a good idea. Most people think running for fun is insane and it is. Matt did not run for fun. He deciphered the difference between want and need. He did not want to try, he needed to try. He did not want to race, he needed to. This need for self satisfaction and personal achievement was admirable. It was not about everyone thinking you’re great. It was about him being the best he could become. It was about him going to bed each day knowing today he tried again. It was about need.
“4:16…4:17…” I fly down the home stretch. The competition now seems prehistoric while my arms and legs are firing. They hurt and my body wants to quit, shut down, have a break. “Two more seconds and you can have a break,” I say in my head. Everything hurts. I look to the clock and cannot see it. My mind in a befuddled manner, my eyes in a sightless trance. I cannot hear, cannot think, cannot see. I just continue running. I cross the line and embrace the ground in rapture. When I can see again, I glance at the board. My eyes lock on 4:19.36. “YES!” I say aloud as I look down and see my foot covered in blood. Someone spiked me and tore my foot like plastic in 6 lines, I did not notice. For the first time there was no physical pain, no mental pain, and no pain at all. I was one with myself and one with running. The hardest race of my life and there was no pain. The strange part was that it all made sense to me.
“Well done sir,” Matt says as he shakes my hand with a grin. “Thanks Matty,” I say, “I finally did it.”
My brother has always been my mentor in running. Ever since I started he has encouraged me and motivated me to become the best. Not only in running, but in everything I do in life, he encourages me. He wants be to be successful and enjoy all of the pleasures life has to offer. Matt encourages me to become the best Chef I can become. While my parents are skeptical about my job and culinary school, Matt promotes it. He knows just by my running that I can do anything I set my mind too; all I need is a little encouragement…from him. School is no different. As he picks on me about my grades, I feel ashamed. When I think about it, I know he is trying to say “Hey, I care” in a brotherly manner. When I play music, he tells me it’s cool. When I bought snowshoes to race and train in, he encouraged me. When I bought his racing bike to train on he encouraged me. When I swim, lift, eat healthy, he encourages me. Everything I have ever done in my life, he has encouraged me one way or another. If it was something stupid, he encouraged me to stop. If it was something I was not doing, such as attending church, he encouraged me to re-discover my faith. I cannot think of one single instance in anything I have accomplished that has not stemmed from Matthew’s overpowering encouragement.
My brother has been my mentor and motivator not only during my running career but life as a whole. As I look on my bedroom wall each morning when I awake, I stare at nearly sixty ribbons, thirty medals, twenty-five race t shirts, fifteen plaques, six trophies, three State Meet t-shirts and two State Medals. But, as I do this, I know there will only be one person in my life like Matt. A person to give me hope, courage and love.