Paul's Blog

"Christian" Acts

I saw an article in this morning’s USA Today (1-Nov-2007) about a Topeka-based church that is picketing the funerals of fallen service members. The paper reports,

The church routinely pickets military funerals with signs reading “Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags," saying God is punishing America for its immoral ways.

The group is planning to picket the memorial services of the seven college students who died in a North Carolina house fire, it said on its website.

I was absolutely stunned that a church group could equate an immoral America with a soldier being killed for doing his or her duty or with college students being killed in a house fire. I lost a friend in college and my cousin, Bobby, was one of the first two American civilians killed in Iraq. I can’t even begin to imagine the additional pain and suffering the immediate families of my friend and cousin (not to mention the rest of us) would have had to endure if people picketed at their funerals.

Read more: "Christian" Acts

Another Half Marathon, Another PR

The Long Island Marathon/Half Marathon took place Sunday, May 6, 2007. I decided on Thursday, May 3rd I would run it again (for the third time).

My goal was to run the Half Marathon in under 2 hours (for those of you who don’t run, that’s not very fast). My best time in a Half Marathon prior to that was 2:10 (in the 2006 LI Half Marathon). I would need to run nearly 1 minute per mile faster than my fastest pace in a long race.

Read more: Another Half Marathon, Another PR

My Perspective on Divorce

While I was going through my divorce, I found it difficult (as a man) to find resources to help me weather the storm. I ended up in a church group pretty far from where I lived. It wasn’t my preference but it was all I could find.

Disclaimer: I was raised Roman Catholic (I think that means we dip the bread of life into spaghetti sauce) but I consider myself simply a person of faith.There were a few things I learned and two primary things I took away from my experience with that group:

Read more: My Perspective on Divorce

A marathon run for Dad

Another marathon bites the dust. This time it was the New York City Marathon and I ran it in memory of my recently deceased father, Ken.

It was an amazing running day–sunny and cool–and the race itself was unbelievable.

I beat my Vermont City Marathon time (5:09 turtle time) by 15 minutes finishing at 4:54. My last five weeks in training were marred by a nagging shin splint in my left leg and then the death of my father. I wasn’t tracking my time for most of the race; I just wanted to enjoy the run.

Read more: A marathon run for Dad

PKM head SOS shot

Paul K. McGinniss, PCC RPCC SBL MSHR
Leadership Development & Executive Coach