Where has the time gone? I’ve been home a week and a half and haven’t stopped going! I am sorry that it has been so long since you have seen an update from me in your in boxes (or here on the blog if you read this here)! Anyways let’s get to the meat! I finished strong in the quarter. I don’t remember what the last update mentioned about anything the one on the blog is from November 7th, and a lot has happened since then! Of course since I am home that means that the quarter finished up and it was one of the best quarters for my grades! There had been some doubt as to how well I would actually finish in Geology after having done well on the last two tests (overall a 75%, 98%, and 94% on tests with a 95% in the lab). That 75% is the one that I was worried about bringing me down a little bit. Each of those percents being worth 20% of the total grade left 20% to the final. Well overall I finished with a 4.0, most likely because of the improvement on the tests from the first one, and a full 100% on the final! 80/80! I was excited you guys should be too! My education classes also went well. I finished with 4.0′s in all the classes that gave grades (Management and Assessment) and passed my 200 course (pass/fail grade).

A lot has happened in my running life. I am once again battling knee injury, this time in the left knee. I can run every few days with a day or two off in between! So hopefully all heals up quickly! I have run my two Jingle Bell runs, Spokane and Seattle and those went off without any hitches!

I’ve gotten myself into the holiday spirit finally getting to hear some Christmas music with a few musical performances from friends (Casey Bodmer, the Children’s ministry at the church, and Kaylee Royer great job everyone!) I love this season!

Books! I have read through a few, most notably the Hunger Games. I didn’t head the advice soon enough! These books are simply amazing! I read the first two this last week and am hungrily (pun not intended) awaiting the third! If you haven’t read them do so now!

I want to wish you all a very merry Christmas and a wonderful new year! You probably won’t hear from me until I am tucked away in my apartment back in Cheney, battling the cold! Although it has been frosty here!

Take Care

Brandon

Brandonnobach.wordpress.com

Many of you may have heard that I was back in Marysville the weekend before Thanksgiving. You all know that help in the summers and falls as a volunteer coach at the local high schools in Marysville. Well I was in town because of a loss on our cross country team. You probably heard of the accident that took place in Marysville and the loss of life that occurred. I was back in town for the funeral. The other two boys involved in the accident are doing well.

I was able to attend the district cross country meet that weekend as well and cheer on our girls as they attempted to make it as a team to the state meet, and also our sole representative at state this year Rachael as she qualified for the meet. I was also able to partake in our boys moving display of support for their teammate. I am extremely glad that I was able to make it back home for that weekend. It was exactly where I needed to be.

Life continues to be as it usually goes for me. Everything is going well, albeit at times stressful, especially this quarter. As you all know I am entering the education program this quarter and have had an assortment of paperwork to fill out in terms of where I might be placed (hopefully Cheney High for observations), and other things. Getting everything taken care of and also working on a schedule to set out my time left here at Eastern. This has been the most stressful part of the paperwork as I try to figure out where I can place classes that are only offered at certain times of the year. It would be wonderful to have one more Fall and Spring term available to me, for as of right now I am overloaded in both those quarters. I mentioned a possible summer term in my last email, and that is looking more and more like a possibility, although again, nothing has been set into stone at this point.

My other class, Geology is going extremely well. The labs get easier when I don’t have to do a lot of identifying of colors, but are overall a lot of fun to do. We just had our second test, which after the first test didn’t go as well as I would have liked I prepared more for. Having learned the style of the test (mostly fill in the blank and the short answers were easy to pick out what they would be) I prepared myself to take it and do well. I was in and out of the test on Thursday morning within 15 minutes. Now you may be saying, “Brandon, are you sure you did well in that short amount of time?” Yes. Yes, I am. I am fully confident in the test that I took the other day and am really looking forward to getting it back tomorrow. I do not believe that I missed anything, although I do know there was a possible margin of error for myself, I will let you know how it turns out.

Reading continues to go well as I bounce between books and never quite finish one. I did force myself to finish Jodi Picoults first novel though this weekend (I will bring it for you tomorrow Darcy). It was a good book and I was glad to be able to relate to a lot of the subjects that drove the narrative. Songs of the Humpback Whale has many geological and oceanic materials that peaked my interest, and are directly related to what I have learned and will learn in the coming years. I have now started another book by John Flanagan (author of the previous book The Lost Stories that I mentioned). This book is the start of a new young adult series that he is writing based on another area of the world his previous series, The Ranger’s Apprentice, was set. So far a few chapters in it is pretty good.

Running as always continues well. My knee injury is a thing of the past. Right now I am focusing on nothing in particular other than to simply build my base mileage back up again. I did end up hitting 100 miles for the first time since March in October, something that I was excited to do. I will probably do similar mileage over the next two months before delving into training for the Coeur D’Alene, Seattle Rock and Roll, and Missoula Marathons. With the completion of those three marathons I will be able to apply to the Marathon Maniacs, a group of other crazies like myself who run as many marathons as they can!

Well that’s a wrap! I hope each of you are doing well! I will be home again soon for Thanksgiving and then for a full month at Christmas time!
Brandon
brandonnobach.wordpress.com
nobachingdown.wordpress.com

It has been a busy couple of weeks for me since I ran the Spokane Half Marathon and last updated you! I have finished one book and am well on my way to finishing another, and I competed in another race today!

The book that I finished was the one I mentioned last time The Lost Stories by John Flanagan, is the one I finished. It was great to have a few more stories from a great childrens literature series that I have been reading over the last many years, I did find myself wanting more, but I guess those stories will be left for another day. He does have another series based in the same area in the world, but from a different perspective (a different country as the home land) set after his first series ends. The other book that I am a little over halfway through is Jodi Picoult’s first novel. It is pretty good, and one I did start before The Lost Stories, as I believe I mentioned it in my first or second letter to you this year.

School continues to go well. My education classes picked up steam in terms of work load, but they are going well. We have been doing more paperwork of late, having to fill out which classes we have taken and which ones we have still to do in our majors/minors. This coming week we will be taking those and putting together a schedule for the rest of our time here at Eastern (four more quarters of classes and then student teaching).

The race that I ran today was called the Hunger Stomp. It was a charity race in which proceeds went to help the hungry in Cheney and Spokane. A 5k race and it’s first year of being run was pretty well organized (got off to a late start), but overall it was a good race! I started out front with the eventual winner, a young man named Kyle who was probably 13 or 14 years of age. He had a strong stride and pulled to the front halfway in the race. I came in about a minute behind him in second. It was a good day for running! On a better note if I can get in 33 miles next week (entirely possible if I get my runs in) I get to 100 miles for the first time since February (I hit 89 in March). A sure sign that I am back on the right track to being better and healthier.

More on the racing front I am now signed up for two marathons (after I confirm entry into the Coeur D’Alene Marathon) next year. I signed myself up for the Missoula Marathon on July 9th last night! I will also be making a decision to become an ambassador for the San Francisco Marathon this coming week. I want to do it, but I am not sure whether it is the right thing to do or not. I will also be running (most likely with Duard and possibly my brother) the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon next June, if my schedule allows.

Something that I have talked with a few of you about, but not many is something that I have alluded to in that last paragraph only slightly. My schedule allowing me to do a few of these races is completely dependent upon one thing. Summer courses. That is something that I will know more about next quarter. For now let me state that there is entirely the possibility that I will not be returning at the end of this school year until next August. Summer courses are a real possibility and something that I will let you know more about later when I know more myself.

I have been asked by a few people when I will be returning back to the west side of the state. I will be making that venture in about a month. For Thanksgiving. I do look forward to seeing some of you then! I will return the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and head back to school the Sunday following. The following time I will be there is At Christmas, coming home on the 7th of December, and returning for school on the 7th or 8th of January.

That is all for this update! Again I hope that this finds each of you doing well!
Brandon
Brandonnobach.wordpress.com
nobachingdown.wordpress.com

As you may recall I went home last weekend (the reason for my absence in telling you all how I am doing). I went home for the sole reason to help out with the Tomahawk Twilight Invitational! If you have been following these letters over the last many years (or just know me) the Tomahawk Twilight Invitational is my favorite cross country meet of the year and something I will never miss as long as I am around to go to it. The meet being in its’ fifth year was a success. We had 52 teams this year (the same number as last year), around 2,000 athletes, just as many spectators, and an open race at the end of the evening that was HUGE! I didn’t partake in the open race, but got to watch the start of it such a spectacle! Overall the weekend was a success! I personally didn’t feel as stressed out during the day as I ran around on Friday and Saturday, spending a total of 26 hours on the golf course. My head coach in high school spent more time there than I did so kudos to him! He’s a big reason why the meet is the success that it is today!

Of course I haven’t updated you on any classes in the past two weeks. In my last email I had not even been to all of my classes having one class only on Tuesday evenings. I have now been through two full weeks of classes plus the three days you heard about before. Tuesdays are my long days. I only have two classes, but I also have a lab on that day. The lab for my geology class is definitely one of my favorite parts of my Tuesdays. This past week I was able to identify an assortment of minerals doing different tests, using the colors (which I do rely on my lab partner to help with), the streak (or color that the mineral is in powder form), the hardness, among other tests. Geology continues to go well, and as far as my education classes are concerned I have made a few friends in them (that are in all three of our ED classes), so we have a fun time in them!

I am partway through Jodi Picoult’s first novel Songs of the Humpback Whale. I am really enjoying it. I see parallels in it as far as the Humpback Whales (which one of the characters is an expert on) in my studies as an Earth and Space Science Major. So it is an opportunity to learn more things through my reading of novels, especially since Jodi Picoult is a writer who gets her facts correct, even if she does write fiction novels. Two books by my favorite young adult authors came out this week, The Lost Stories by John Flanagan and The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan so I have obtained those and started reading The Lost Stories… Which does put Jodi Picoult’s book on hold. I also obtained 5 or 6 books from my former boss Marilyn Carpenter, so I will also be reading those (I don’t know all of their titles off hand) at some point and relaying their information when I do get to them!

The half marathon this morning went well! I really ran it on a whim. With my recent knee injury I was a bit wary signing up for this one. I had told a few of you that I wouldn’t be doing anything longer than a 5k for the rest of the year (or at least until December), but I did help to train my friend Marissa Schafer for her first half marathon at Bellingham Bay Marathon. Her and I got in the long runs without any pain coming from my knee, so I figured I would be okay running the half so I signed up for it with a day to spare on raised registration. I ended up running pretty well. I walked in hoping to merely best my time from last year of 1:44:08. I bested that by about 8 minutes running an unofficial time of 1:36. A good day all in all! I was pestered by one man (whom I have seen on campus and at various sporting events in the area) for wearing my second seed singlet. I was clipping along early at about 7:30 pace and I was running with a former MP cross country runner Shawn Lyons. This man was heckling me because I “should have been faster.” A little irritating, but the fact that I was simply just running it today. I did start picking up the pace a little later after I parted ways with Shawn who was shooting for a bit of a slower time than I, I do know that I took in the top 60 of the half marathon finishers because of some people who were counting along the course and calling it out to runners. As far as the rest of the races for the coming months to finish out the year, I will be running two Jingle Bell runs (Spokane and Seattle), and will most likely be running a half (or possibly full) on New Year’s Eve up in Bellingham!

Anyways I hope you are all doing well!
Brandon
nobachingdown.wordpress.com
brandonnobach.wordpress.com

Well I am now back at school having arrived earlier today with my roommate Amanda Weaver. We had a great trip and now we are getting settled back into Cheney life! It was a long trip it took us 7 hours to our normal 4.5-5 hours. Construction on I-90 led to a longer trip. I also forgot my laptop, which my absolutely wonderful mom has shipped out to me and I should have it on Wednesday, until then I will spend time in the computer lab and borrowing my roommates computer!

It has been a while since you heard from me and those whom I haven’t seen this summer must be wondering what I have been up to. When I left you I believe that I was hurt and just getting back into running. I had a few races coming up this past summer that you may or may not know how those turned out for me. I was going to make a trip to San Francisco regardless of the pain in my knee and my ability to run, plane tickets had been purchased and I was not about to let them go to waste.

Let’s back up though, that trip took place at the end of July and there was a lot that happened in June and early July! At the end of the school term my dad came over and drove my other roommate Kylie and myself back over to the West Side of the state. We were able to obtain a bike rack to get my bike back on this side of the state… which was a definite blessing this summer. When I got back to Marysville I headed into the routine that has become my summers, cross country practice, housesitting, and a relative love of Marysville! I believe the text I sent to those whom I communicate with on my way back into or out of town was something like, “Hello Marysville, how I have missed you so.” It’s true I miss this area when I am away for school! So I quickly got my bearings catching up with the cross country coaches, introducing myself to the new way things would be done with two programs (we all still met at the same time in the summer so not much different) and tried to figure out where I needed to be in terms of housesitting this summer!

Now running this summer was different than it has been for me since my Junior track season in high school when I was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. I had slowly been building up a one run a week with a friend here at school (we get to run together tomorrow for the first time since June!) and continued to do so. The knee pain wasn’t completely gone though when I ran, even if I were getting longer runs in I was still very stiff and pain wasn’t something that escaped any run. I went into the doctor and was sent to physical therapy. So at the end of June I said good bye to my Seattle Rock and Roll registration passing it on to Duard King who ran splendidly! I moved my focus to getting healthy and getting back to the road. The first session of physical therapy figured out that I had a tight IT Band (a muscle that runs from your hip down the side of your hip connecting just below the knee) it needed stretching, massage, and strengthening. Slowly but surely I made my way back to longer distances. However, the San Francisco Marathon was sneaking up on me and quite honestly I was wary of how it would go.

A couple of weeks prior to the marathon I had begun running with another friend Marissa Schaefer who was training for the Bellingham Half Marathon here in another week (good luck to her!) and I became her training partner for the long runs. When I stepped into her training plan I was slowly building and couldn’t go longer than a few miles without walking or stopping because of tightness or pain, but we worked on it, she was patient and so was I. With physical therapy strengthening my knee and running with Marissa my confidence was returning. So with a week to go before the marathon I set out to run my longest run in a few months, 6.6 miles. Now those friends of mine who run, or are even thinking of running a marathon, DO NOT run a marathon on a long run of that distance. I took off the Friday following this run and made my way to San Francisco.

The trip was great! My friend Michael Thompson and I stayed with another Tomahawk athlete of ours Haley Nemra. She was a fantastic and gracious host, we are completely grateful for her and her roommates for allowing us a place to crash for our week in San Fran. Now those who know me know I have an affinity for this city. Which is why I chose to make it the place I would attempt to run my California marathon, and I knew if I didn’t finish I would come back again to this race and finish what I started. I wouldn’t need to at the end of Sunday, but I would gladly go back and run it again. If you understood that statement correctly you will realize that I did start and finish the San Francisco Marathon without a problem. It was honestly a miracle that I finished and I thank everyone who kept my running and myself in their prayers that day and this summer, I could not have done it without you. There is a lot more about the race and the city of San Francisco that I could talk about, which is why I will direct you to two other blog entries. The first is a report of the race over on my other blog, Nobaching Down. That link will take you directly to my race report, you can access all sorts of other blogs that have been posted this year about my running on that site as well!. The second is actually a blog post that I just put up on this site for the sake of those wanting to know outside of my race. It is actually an email that I sent to one of my bosses here on campus who wished to know what I thought of San Francisco! Update on San Francisco!

After San Francisco I only had a couple of weeks to get ready for the Cross Country Season that was starting! Not that I had to prepare a lot, but I help out where I can! The decision that I would have to make deciding between programs was one that I refused to make. The idea that I was going to just let one school be without my help (not that I am trying to toot my own horn here) was something I did not want. I did spend a little more time at Marysville Pilchuck this last week, but with preparing for a Thursday home meet that both Getchell and Pilchuck would be attending I felt that it was worth it in the end making sure the course was set up and prepared. Both schools have great programs. The Pilchuck squad started small but has progressively gotten bigger with every practice and I am excited to see where the future leads for them! Getchell had the bigger squad the whole time I was around and they are set to have a great year at the 3A level! I will as always miss the coaches (Riechel, Edens, Kesler, Kreiger, and Conley) as I head off to college just as much as I miss the kids that I get to spend my summers and early falls with. One day I look forward to getting to be around a group of kids all through the season and coaching them just as I do now, but for a longer period of time. They really are some of the best people that I know and I am happy that 7 years ago I stepped into the hallway at Pilchuck to turn out for a sport that has so dramatically changed my life! Here’s to all of you guys! Good luck this season and I will continue to pester the coaches (and some of you) to find out how you did. I will always know through Athletic.net how things went for you that day as well!

Wow we are just going on and on are we not? This will probably be the longest update you get all school year! Savor it!

Other things this summer that are worth mentioning… Harry Potter finally came to an end, the 8th movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out and I saw it 6 times (I know absurd, but I may be seeing it again tonight)! I celebrated my 22nd birthday a week after I ran the San Francisco Marathon. My brother and sister-in-law celebrated their first anniversary as a married couple! So a huge congratulations to them! I got to meet a wonderful young woman who just left for Haiti this last week to teach music there for two years. She also completed a 169 mile bike ride last weekend, just days before she had to leave. Of course I did my fair share of house sitting at many different places. I did my usual stint at the Bailey’s, took up the Weaver’s (my roommates), picked up a new place out near Lake Goodwin for the Grey’s, and returned to a place I haven’t watched in a while the Hoye’s. I did do a few babysitting jobs as well and got to watch the sweetest little girl this past Friday evening. I hung out at my church for a week for VBS and had a blast doing that! We sure know how to party for VBS, or maybe I am simply just a loud out going person, you be the judge!

Now I head into the school year ahead! I had recently changed my major to Earth and Space Science when we last spoke. I did well in all my classes in the Spring and this fall seems to be setting itself up for a great quarter! With a geology class about the Earth, all sorts of Education classes (I get to enter the ed program!) and one math class I will be well on my way! I will also continue to have the same job working in the library I have the last two years, although it will be under new powers, namely the boss that I have worked for in my tenure, as the boss who owns all the books in it has retired! So I will continue to do what I have always done.

Those who wish to know about my running in the coming months I will be back for the Tomahawk Twilight Invitational (anyone who wishes to pick me up from the airport on Thursday September 29 please let me know!)  and then a week later I will be running in the Spokane Half Marathon! Then I drop down to a couple of 5ks with the possibility of a full marathon at the end of the year on New Years Eve most likely!

Until you hear from me again!

Brandon

Brandonnobach.wordpress.com

Nobachingdown.wordpress.com