Hello Again

Last Tuesday morning I was helping a 14 year old plan his Junior Olympic 1500 meter race. The young man succeeded in setting a new personal best, but Coach Tower's game plan kind of fizzled out a little bit.

Duke (Demetrius is his real name), was the fastest runner by a few seconds on paper in a pretty slow race. He was in the first of four heats. The fourth heat actually saw a national record fall by nearly twenty seconds. Anyway, I told Duke to play around on the first lap and save some energy for his second lap. Then he could take the lead as I suggested. Duke was unable to practice due to a muscle strain during the month of July, so as he expended all of that energy on lap two, he also grew a little weary.

He did lost a few spots on lap three to finish fourth, but he was still able to come in five seconds faster than his previous race. I will probably be coaching Duke in cross country this fall, so we will both be getting ourselves in pretty decent shape soon.

Overall, I did have an enjoyable time at my first Junior Olympics as a coach. Due to where I am at the moment (car dealership), I do not have many pictures that I can upload from the event. Our field event guys both set PRs in the shot put, and Duke set a PR in his quarter mile race as well.

                                                             Duke and Coach Tate

                                                           Duke getting warmed up

Still Getting Some Love

From my baby girl in Korea that is. . . The little one that used to call me daddy recently sent me a letter. I felt so bad that she mentioned she had been too busy with school to write to me.
Anyway, it was a great start to my week a few weeks ago, when my pops brought this letter to me at work one Monday.

I'm an ARV

It is a very rainy morning here in Knoxville, TN, this morning.

On another note, earlier this year I became an ARV (animal rescue volunteer) with the Humane Society of the United States. It is very rewarding to be able to help animals that come out of puppy mill, hoarding or fighting situations. My first bit of work helping a group of dogs that came out of a puppy mill in Arkansas. There were 45 dogs, 8 chickens, and 3 cats that came off of the person's property. I was able to help be a part of the rehabilitation process for these animals (not so much the chickens), and I even took part in grooming them as well.

Since I was only two hours away from Memphis, I managed to help out three different times, and enjoyed being in a glorious Hampton Inn every evening.  Most importantly, I met some wonderful people, and thanks to social media we are able to keep in touch. I look forward to my next volunteer mission with the HSUS; whether it be this year or next year.

The first picture was from the first trip to Central Arkansas, while the second was from the following trip.

Time for a Comeback

Good Evening World!

It has been a LONG time since I have attempted this blogging idea. I have repeatedly asked myself to get back to this place over the last few weeks. I am happy to announce the Keep Going blog is back for now.

First of all, I do not know how long it has been since I last typed in this box provided courtesy of Google's Blogspot service. A lot has happened in life though. There have not been many big changes though.

Currently, I am sitting in a hotel room in Knoxville, TN, 18 hours away from the Region 6 AAU Qualifying Track and Field Meet. For the last few months I have been coaching the Blues City Runners, a track club that I once represented (as a distance runner).

I have three runners (distance-wise) that all have very good shots at qualifying for the Junior Olympics next month in Norfolk, VA. I spend three days a week practicing with these kids, and it has been just as rewarding as teaching English in Korea was to me.

I have not done a great job keeping in touch with everyone in Korea these days, so I found a nice little Korean church, with a few American men that are actually married to Korean women. I really enjoy sitting through sermons that are in Korean (while following with English translations).

There is a sweet little lady in the church with an amazing operatic voice, who gives me goosebumps every time I attend a service. Her name is Kim Wickes, and I found out through the pastor of the church that she actually spent some time singing  for Billy Graham's Crusade. This lady has certainly lived life to the fullest, considering she lost her sight at age 3. Please click on the link below, and even do some searching on your own. She has an incredible voice for such a petite lady.
Kim Wickes


Here is a picture of Pastor Ho Jin and myself that he took on his new Samsung phone recently.

I just may be back for another blog post soon! There might be a hot tub calling my name downstairs.