Journal of today’s activities:

Today I drove south two hours to meet with Jeremy Nichols, an administrator who presides over a small school in the city of San Martin. I met Jeremy longer than two years ago. I was confined inside the Federal Prison Camp in Atwater, California at the time and he presided over a school in Modesto. Jeremy brought a group of students who attended an alternative school to listen to presentations that several prisoners and I made about consequences that followed bad decisions. Jeremy agreed to introduce me to his team at the Odyssey School in San Martin so that I could discuss the benefits of our Straight-A Guide Cognitive Skills Development Program. I am hopeful that we’ll be able to work together. He and his team will review our materials and we’ll schedule a follow up meeting in April.

Besides meeting with Jeremy, I took time to meet with Dr. Angela Haick, principal of the Osborne School at the Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall. Angela purchased a renewable licensing agreement to use our program and we’ve been working together for three months. Her team has been implementing the program, using it has a resource to teach the students strategies of preparing for overcoming struggle and preparing for success.

Following a dinner meeting with Angela, I checked into an Embassy Suites Hotel near the San Francisco Airport. Had I driven home, I would’ve had to fight traffic out of San Francisco, which meant I wouldn’t have gotten home until 8:00 pm. Further, I would’ve had to leave my house at 4:00 am in order to catch a flight for Aspen that I was scheduled to take in the morning. Sleeping at the hotel near the airport meant that I could complete some work during the evening, then wake early to exercise in the hotel gym.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 203
• Miles run today: 7
• Miles run this week: 19
• Miles run this month: 32.3
• Miles run in 2014: 505.63
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 98.29
• Today’s Weight: 165

Journal of today’s activities:

This afternoon I drove to San Leandro to make a presentation for a group of young people who are on probation. One of the probation officers heard my story previously. He told me that the young people he supervised needed to receive a positive message and invited me to attend. About 30 teenagers were in the room when I arrived and I made a 90-minute presentation. Since I wanted to connect with the young probationers, I brought another speaker with me. His name was Tavis Johnson, another man who served many years in prison. I wanted Tavis to join me because working together would allow us to make a more powerful presentation. He spoke about rough background he had growing up in East Palo Alto and the violent adjustment he endured in prison. Tavis has been living as a law-abiding citizen for 10 years now, and he attributed his success after prison to his acceptance of the principles we teach in our Straight-A Guide Cognitive Skills Development Program. I hope the young people found value in our message.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 202
• Miles run today: 12
• Miles run this week: 25.3
• Miles run this month: 25.3
• Miles run in 2014: 498.63
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 97.86
• Today’s Weight: 162

Journal of today’s activities:

I’m not yet able to take days off from my work. Some people ask what I mean when I say that I don’t take days off. What I mean is that every day I work to build my career. They ask me what about weekends. So I clarify that I work every day. I have to work every day in order to build stability. Some people don’t grasp the sense of urgency I feel. That’s okay. Those who don’t had different life experiences that differed from mine. I met too many who thought that life would be easy upon the completion of a prison sentence. With challenges of finding employment, they discovered that the opposite was true. Memories from interviewing so many people I met in prison compel me to work hard every day until I have a sustainable business. And I won’t feel as though I have a sustainable business until I have a stream of clients flowing to me regularly. That day will come, but it isn’t here yet. Today I spent several hours refining my presentation for a gang prevention task force. I also had a lengthy telephone conference with Caryn, a woman Justin recruited to help grow our business. Much more work ahead.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 201
• Miles run today: 13.3
• Miles run this week: 30.3
• Miles run this month: 13.3
• Miles run in 2014: 486.63
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 92.43
• Today’s Weight: 164

Journal of today’s activities:

I drove into San Francisco for a meeting with Steve Good, Director of the Five Keys Charter School. Leadership from Steve Good and his team has resulted in Five Keys becoming “Charter School of the Year.” The school teaches students who are either incarcerated or vulnerable to being incarcerated. Each year more than 9,000 students participate in educational programs operated by Five Keyes Charter School. I asked for a meeting with Steve because I wanted to provide him with more insight into our Straight-A Guide Cognitive Skills Development Program. Before we finished our meeting, Steve assured me that he would incorporate the Straight-A Guide Learning Module into his program when he received his next budget, either in August or December.

Following my meeting with Steve, I drove to San Francisco State University. Since I hadn’t run over the past several days, I parked my car and went out to run around the scenic Lake Merced and the surrounding area of the university. Then I set up shop in the library and began preparing for my lecture. I scheduled a guest speaker to join me for the evening. His name was Mike Grabowski. Mike leads the criminal justice department at Santa Rosa Junior College and he lectures at Sonoma State University. Besides extensive experience in academia, Mike brought a wealth of practical experience. Earlier in his career he served as a police officer, a corrections official, and a parole officer. He spoke about the juvenile justice system, and I appreciated the contribution he made to the class. Following the class, Mike and I ate dinner at a restaurant called The Cheesecake Factory.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 199
• Miles run today: 10
• Miles run this week: 10
• Miles run this month: 190.2
• Miles run in 2014: 466.33
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 85.27
• Today’s Weight: 170

Journal of today’s activities:

Mario Marciel, leader of the San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force asked me to visit him today rather than last night. The good news of his request was that I got to drive home immediately after a full day of teaching yesterday at the Santa Clara Juvenile Hall. The bad news was that I had to make another long drive into San Jose today. At least I was well prepared. Over the past few weeks I’ve been preparing for this meeting. I now have slides that will guide me through three full days of staff development training. I really call it leadership training, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of teaching 40 government employees and community interventionists the strategies of leadership that guided me through my journey. Preparations I made while serving my lengthy sentence empowered me. Now I’m thrilled to teach others. The hours I’ve invested in those preparations gave me the strength to show Mario that I was ready to lead. We went through the outline I prepared so that he would have a better idea of how I would teach his team. Then we set some dates to begin the training later this spring. I’m looking forward to leading this training session and learning from the process. Then I will work to introduce the training to others.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 198
• Miles run today: 0
• Miles run this week: 0
• Miles run this month: 180.2
• Miles run in 2014: 456.33
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 81.84
• Today’s Weight: 172

Journal of today’s activities:

I left my house at 4:00 am today in order to meet Ronnie Massaro at a San Jose restaurant at 6:00 am. I knew it was going to be a long day. Ronnie and I were scheduled to teach inside of the Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall beginning at 7:00 am. We agreed to meet for breakfast an hour earlier in order to coordinate our presentations, or bring them into harmony. Our intention was to teach the students the importance of making a 100 percent rejection of the criminal lifestyle. That’s a heavy message to deliver inside of a juvenile hall or any prison facility. Ronnie and I served time differently. During the decades that Ronnie served, he led a prison gang; during the decades that I served, I prepared each day for a law-abiding, contributing life upon release.  Our journeys differed, and we looked forward to sharing our story with the young people who were embarking upon their own troubles with the criminal justice system. By standing side by side, we hoped to guide them into better decision making ahead.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 197
• Miles run today: 0
• Miles run this week: 0
• Miles run this month: 180.2
• Miles run in 2014: 456.33
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 88.41
• Today’s Weight: 169

Journal of today’s activities:

I didn’t run yesterday and I didn’t run today. Since I’m so conditioned to exercising every day, when I miss consecutive days of running, I feel as if I’m falling off track. Yet I needed to sacrifice my running because of a meeting that I’m scheduled to have tomorrow evening. I’ll meet with Mario Marciel. He contracted with our organization to purchase four training days for our Straight-A Guide curriculum. I’ll spend four full days working with 40 community outreach workers, helping them understand the principles that guided me through 9,500 days of confinement. I’ve never led a 32-hour workshop training before. In order to do so effectively, I’ve had to invest several hundred hours. I’ve been mapping each of the day’s events, creating graphical slides and exercises that would help those who attend the conference follow along and internalize the principles that I teach. By investing all of this time in advance of the conference, I’m preparing myself to lead from a position of strength. I’m looking forward to meeting with Mario tomorrow evening and showing him precisely how I will teach the program to his team of interventionists.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 196
• Miles run today: 0
• Miles run this week: 0
• Miles run this month: 180.2
• Miles run in 2014: 456.33
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 94.98
• Today’s Weight: 167

Journal of today’s activities:

Last week I ran more than 81 miles. With last week’s running distance, I was more than 108 miles ahead of schedule. As the log below shows, I track each day’s distance. That way I always know where I stand in relation to the prospect of reaching my goal. In order to reach the 2,400-mile running goal that I set for 2014, I know precisely how far I’m supposed to be each day of the year. My running log showed that I was supposed to be at 348 miles yesterday, but I’ve already run more than 456 miles this year. So I’m way ahead of schedule. That’s good, because the busy week I have ahead of me means that I must sacrifice my running schedule in order to ensure that I’m well prepared for the presentations that I’m scheduled to make later this week. Today I spent several hours writing a guide that I would follow over a four-day training session with the San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 195
• Miles run today: 0
• Miles run this week: 0
• Miles run this month: 180.2
• Miles run in 2014: 456.33
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 101.55
• Today’s Weight: 166

Journal of today’s activities:

On Tuesday of this coming week I’m scheduled to teach at Santa Clara County Juvenile Hall for a full day. Once I finish teaching, I’ll drive to East San Jose to meet with Mario Marciel, leader of the San Jose Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force. I’ve taught at the Juvenile Hall a half a dozen times over the past few months. Students inside of the juvenile hall attend a high school program that uses our Straight-A Guide curriculum. Teachers who work in the hall use our videos, our books, and our curriculum to teach the students how to reject criminal lifestyles and develop critical thinking skills, even while incarcerated. I feel well prepared to lead those classes. On Tuesday I’ll bring a Ronnie Massaro to join my presentation. Ronnie served multiple decades in state and federal prison, though he served an entire sentence as a prison gang leader. By standing side by side together, we’ll help the students understand that the choices they make through their adjustment period will determine their outcomes. Since we’ve both lived the journey that the youth are not walking, we feel well prepared to guide them. Preparing for my meeting with the Mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force is another matter. I spent my entire day working on that presentation, and I’ll write more about the ways that I’m preparing tomorrow.

• Days since my release from 26 years in federal prison: 194
• Miles run today: 10.7
• Miles run this week: 81.4
• Miles run this month: 180.2
• Miles run in 2014: 180.2
• Miles I need to run to reach my 2,400-mile running goal for 2014:
• Number of miles I’m ahead of schedule or behind schedule: 108.12
• Today’s Weight: 165