Start your 2015 off right with a self development or business audiobook narrated by yours truly!

Audible:
http://www.audible.com/search/ref=a_search_tseft__galileo?advsearchKeywords=Rey+Mangual&x=0&y=0

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/how-to-connect-anyone-meet/id833820275
https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/never-leave-money-on-table/id838570891

After raising thousands of dollars for the Team For Kids charity, I was committed to running my first marathon in 2012.  While not feeling quite ready, I had trained for 16 weeks and was willing to do my best.

Then, Sandy.  The superstorm destroyed many parts of the area, and although the course was ready, threats against the participants and overall bad P.R. forced the cancellation of the ING New York City Marathon.

Then, Boston.

Given the opportunity to run again in 2013, I took it; training all over again with the 16 week schedule. 

I'm a relatively new runner; having only taken it up a few years ago in earnest.  I'm a slow runner; a jogger, really.  I'm tenacious, though.  I found that I can at least go the distance.  On Sunday, November 3rd, 2013, I was ready to give it a shot.  Nervous but ready.

The Staten Island ferry terminal was crowded to capacity and a little much for me to handle with all of the stomach butterflies, but we all somehow got through it and to the other side, only to wait on another long line for buses.  My wife and son were with me for support but we had to part ways here.  On the bus, I had the misfortune of standing and straphanging it, while the driver circled around for 10 minutes only to end up passing the street where the later runners were waiting for their buses!  Right back to the beginning!  The driver eventually found his way and I eventually found my way to my section of the rally area.

Nervous that I wouldn't know where to go or what to do, I cautiously walked around following signs.  It was easy enough to navigate.  The New York Road Runners put on an extremely organized event.  

All that was left to do was run.  That's easy enough!  This is where it all really kicks in.  Most every fellow runner was happy, friendly, and festive, but it wasn't until I encountered the spectators that I knew what it was really all about.

It started with a trickle in Brooklyn, just off the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. On some small residential street, someone at a normal volume simply said "Hey Rey!".  I looked up to see who this friend of mine was, but I'd never met this man.  I'd forgotten that I was wearing my name on shirt.  It was at about this point that a stupid grin showed up on my face that didn't leave for miles. I basically smiled the whole 26.2 miles.  The crowds were fun, funny, supportive beyond belief, and essential to my having finished at all!  It was just about the best day of my life.

Thank you New York City!

I've found that first time marathoners fall into two major categories after their first race.  Those who check it off their list, never to run another full marathon, and those who become addicted and immediately start planning for their next race.  

Immediately, I started looking at London, Madrid, Paris, and other marathons in the states.  This was the first of many.

The alliterative title above was lifted from a recent gigmasters.com blog post by Chelsea Pellegrino about my proposal to my now fiancée.

Let's hope they don't mind my reblogging, as it promotes their awesome service!
http://wedding-blog.gigmasters.com/real-event-perfect-park-proposal/

Here at GigMasters, we refer to our members as the “life of the party.” But sometimes, our entertainers find themselves being a part of something even more significant, like this priceless proposal story.

When Rey met Aleta, she was selling books at a local farmers market. He had a feeling she was the one he would spend the rest of his life with. One year later, within the same hour when they first met, Rey knew it was time to make it official. However, simply getting down on one knee wasn’t enough for Rey -he wanted to make the moment even more special.

That’s why he used GigMasters to find Chaancé Barnes, a talented jazz singer from New York. “I knew that I wanted a female jazz singer, and Chaancé fit the style I had in mind” said Rey. “ The fact that she is a very talented singer, and was willing to go above and beyond to help make this evening special, convinced me that I had made the right choice.”

Rey asked Chaancé to perform one song: Aleta’s favorite jazz tune “The Nearness of You.” The singer and accompanists were to wait inconspicuously in the same park where Rey and Aleta met, until the couple strolled by.

“The weather was drizzly and perfect,” described Rey, who also shared that he was a “nervous wreck.” As he got down on one knee, Chaancé began to sing, and the magical proposal was a success. If you hadn’t already guessed it, Aleta said yes!

When we asked Chaancé about the event, she exclaimed that she loved every moment. “I feel so honored to be a part of such a life changing moment in Rey and his fiances’ life.” The singer also thanked GigMasters for being a springboard for events like this to happen.

We’re thrilled to have helped a client on such a special day, and wish the newly engaged couple all the best!

If this post has sparked some ideas on how to make your proposal even more spectacular, take a look at some of our jazz singers, acoustic guitarists or even caricaturists in your area. After all, who doesn’t love a good love story?

Twice in several days I've serendipitously heard of "Yes-and" from the improv comedy world.  Once from Tina Fey's book "Bossypants" and once from a Stephen Colbert speech to Knox College graduates which I just stumbled upon.  They both explained this excellent concept well, but Colbert took it to a more philosophical level; using it as a life lesson.

He also juxtaposed it with cynicism.  Something which I've tried to rid from my own life in the past year, and is a personality trait I find distasteful in others.  Everyone gets there sometimes; it's understandable.  And sometimes it's funny as hell.  I'm talking about severe cynics.  Chronic, even.

Check out Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show farewell, where he concisely expressed his feelings on the subject. (see the video clip below Colbert's).

For the part of the Colbert speech pertinent to what I'm talking about, you can start at about 3:30 on the video below or just read this partial transcript…

When I was starting out in Chicago, doing improvisational theatre with Second City and other places, there was really only one rule I was taught about improv.  That was, "yes-and."  In this case, "yes-and" is a verb.  To "yes-and."  I yes-and, you yes-and, he, she or it yes-ands.  And yes-anding means that when you go onstage to improvise a scene with no script, you have no idea what's going to happen, maybe with someone you've never met before.  To build a scene, you have to accept.  To build anything onstage, you have to accept what the other improvisers initiate on stage.  They say you're doctors -- you're doctors.  And then, you add to that: We're doctors and we're trapped in an ice cave.  That's the "-and."  And then hopefully they "yes-and" you back.  You have to keep your eyes open when you do this.  You have to be aware of what the other performer is offering you, so that you can agree and add to it.  And through these agreements, you can improvise a scene or a one-act play.  And because, by following each other's lead, neither of you are really in control.  It's more of a mutual discovery than a solo invention.  What happens in a scene is often as much a surprise to you as it is to the audience.

Well, you are about to start the greatest improvisation of all.  With no script.  No idea what's going to happen, often with people and places you have never seen before.  And you are not in control.  So say "yes."  And if you're lucky, find people who will say "yes" back.

Now will saying "yes" get you in trouble at times?  Will saying "yes" lead you to doing some foolish things?  Yes it will.  But don't be afraid to be a fool.  Remember, you cannot be both young and wise.  Young people who pretend to be wise to the ways of the world are mostly just cynics.  Cynicism masquerades as wisdom, but it is the farthest thing from it.  Because cynics don't learn anything.  Because cynicism is a self-imposed blindness, a rejection of the world because we are afraid it will hurt us or disappoint us.  Cynics always say no. But saying "yes" begins things.  Saying "yes" is how things grow.  Saying "yes" leads to knowledge.  "Yes" is for young people.  So for as long as you have the strength to, say "yes."

And that's The Word.