It’s a cold and rainy early April day. It’s the kind of day that makes one not mind spending the day inside.
Continue reading “Making My Pitch…”
Tag: Inspiration
365.2: A Runner’s Journey – RELEASED TODAY!!!
It’s easy to make a New Year’s resolution. It’s much more difficult to fulfill it.
Dr. Paul Semendinger, a 53-year-old father of three, an average runner (who runs about one marathon a year), an author, and a school principal, decided to run every single day for an entire year. That was his New Year’s Resolution. This is the story of his quest to do what, for him, seemed to be the impossible. There were no off-days, no chances to take it easy. He made a promise to himself to run every day in 2022. He worked to achieve that goal as one of the biggest parts of his life changed radically. This is his tale of running. It’s also the story of a year in his life.
Join Dr. Sem as he pushes ever forward. This is a story of motivation, of drive, of success, and even failure. The insights, the humor, the reflection, and the emotion that is part of this true tale is one that should motivate and inspire others to set their own goals for themselves and find ways to achieve them letting nothing get in the way of reaching a goal, no matter how unreasonable it might seem to others.
We all have goals, this book will help you reach yours!
Get the book HERE!
Now Available: 365.2: Going the Distance, A Runner’s Journey
My newest book, 365.2: Going the Distance, A Runner’s Journey is now available for pre-order:
“It’s easy to make a New Year’s resolution. It’s much more difficult to fulfill it. Dr. Paul Semendinger, a 53-year-old father of three, an average runner (who runs about one marathon a year), an author, and a school principal, decided to run every single day for an entire year. That was his New Year’s Resolution. This is the story of his quest to do what, for him, seemed to be the impossible. There were no off-days, no chances to take it easy. He made a promise to himself to run every day in 2022. He worked to achieve that goal as one of the biggest parts of his life changed radically. This is his tale of running. It’s also the story of a year in his life.
Join Dr. Sem as he pushes ever forward. This is a story of motivation, of drive, of success, and even failure. The insights, the humor, the reflection, and the emotion that is part of this true tale is one that should motivate and inspire others to set their own goals for themselves and find ways to achieve them letting nothing get in the way of reaching a goal, no matter how unreasonable it might seem to others.
We all have goals, this book will help you reach yours!”
Resolutions and the New Year (A Sermon)
On December 31, 2023, I was provided the wonderful opportunity to be the guest preacher at Grace United Methodist Church in Wyckoff, New Jersey.
Here is the sermon I delivered:
Today is the day when we close 2023 and look forward to 2024. Today is when we reflect on our past year and look forward to a new one.
It’s on the last day of the year that we might celebrate the New Years’ Resolutions that we succeeded in maintaining and it is also when we set our sights to the new day that tomorrow brings as well as the new hopes for us to find ways to be our better selves.
I set a goal for 2023 that I completed just a few days ago. I was able to keep my New Years’ resolution. That’s always a good feeling.
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NYC Marathon Weekend 2023
I ran my first New York City Marathon in 2002. That seems like a long time ago. In subsequent years (2003, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022) I also ran New York City. It is a race and experience like none other. It’s a race that touches my heart and my soul in many ways. I love the big city; always have. And I love running through it. I love the New York City Marathon.
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Bringing God Into Our Running Lives
The following is the sermon I delivered at the start of the 2023 New York City Marathon.
***
One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes from Hebrews. Most runners are familiar with the passage as it reads:
“Let us run with perseverance, the race set before us.”
That, of course, is what we are here to do today. We are here to run, with purpose, and strength, using all our abilities and courage and confidence, that race, a big and mighty race, set before us.
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Reaching, Failing, Reaching Again
I am a marathoner.
In less then three weeks, I’ll be running the New York City Marathon. This will be my 25th lifetime Marathon and my 10th New York.
I have always said that I will run forever.
Nothing has ever stopped me before. A torn Achilles? Nope. Stress factures? Nope. Other aches and pains and the like? Nope.
I just kept moving forward. (I did have surgery to repair the Achilles, but got right back at it afterword.)
Nothing ever stopped me… except… me.
Nothing ever stopped me, until I did. Or, better said, until I almost did.
Continue reading “Reaching, Failing, Reaching Again”
Thinking of Roman Times…
There was this idea trending a few weeks ago that men think about the Roman Empire on a daily basis. Many found this to be an amazing thing. Many wondered, aloud, “What could these men possibly be thinking about related to the Roman Empire? Why would people think about the Roman Empire today?”
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Making Work Into Fun
Sometimes training for a marathon can be a drag. It’s challenging and often difficult to begin one’s day knowing that a long run is coming – an hour (often more) of strenuous exercise, out there on the streets alone, often hurting, sometimes painfully so. Marathon training is certainly not fun.
And yet, we go on day-after-day, year-after-year preparing for race-after-race, thinking, hoping , wondering, even decades removed from one’s prime, if this race, the next race, will be the best one ever. (“I wonder if I can set a P.R.?”)
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And So It Begins…
So much of life is a process. We work diligently to accomplish tasks, and once accomplish them, we set our minds to new tasks.
Ever forward. Never stopping. There is always a new challenge facing us – a new goal, something different that we need to achieve.
And achieve we must.
Continue reading “And So It Begins…”
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