Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 90
Time I woke: 4:00 am
Journal of activities:

This morning I woke with an eagerness to add another marathon distance to my annual tally. At the start of the year I pledged to run 13 marathons, but with all of my work I fell behind. I run at a slow pace and I couldn’t afford to set aside the time it would take to cover a marathon distance. But I’m catching up with my work. Carole had to work today so I left at the same time as she left and I began the run. It felt wonderful. My wife doesn’t like me to run the full distance without a break to replenish my energy, but I feel comfortable on the long runs. I only have to run five more marathons before the end of this year to reach my goal and I’m going to succeed. After the marathon, I returned home to catch up on my responsibilities for SFSU and then I had dinner with my friend Lee Nobmann.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: 6:40
• Lenght of time: Five hours
• Miles run today: 26.2
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma
• Consecutive days: 2
• Cumulative miles since day off: 38.2
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 8

Gratitude prayer:

I’m so grateful that God continues to bless me with the strength and stamina and discipline to run long distances.

Appointments:

I had dinner with my friend Lee Nobmann.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 89
Time I woke: 4:30
Journal of activities:

I woke early this morning with a commitment to enjoy a long run. I wanted to run a marathon distance, but I had an appointment in San Francisco that required me to cut my run short. I still was able to run 12 miles and I appreciated the time alone with nature. I returned home to spend some time with Carole and complete some administrative work on my website. Then we drove to San Francisco so that I could watch my friend, Tulio Cardozo, deliver a speech at a TEDx event. From there Carole and went shopping and then I returned home to complete a bit more work. We went to sleep very early, as I made plans to run my eighth marathon distance in the morning.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: 6:40
• Lenght of time: 2 hours
• Miles run today: 12
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma and San Francisco
• Consecutive days: 1
• Cumulative miles since day off: 12
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful that God brought me another day of liberty, another day to appreciate my time with Carole.

Appointments:

Today I attended a TEDx event in Japan Town for the purpose of watching my friend, Tulio Cardozo, deliver a speech.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 88
Time I woke: 4:00
Journal of activities:

I woke with a lot of enthusiasm about beginning my day today. My partner, Justin Paperny, arranged for me to meet with Dr. Brant Choate, who is the director of the Education Based Incarceration Bureau that operates within the Sheriff’s Department of Los Angeles County. More than 160,000 people pass through the LA County Jail System each year and Dr. Choate told me that tens of thousands of students are enrolled in an education program that he leads in the jail. Brant arranged me for me to participate on a tour with him at a San Francisco jail. We met at the offices of Five Keyes Charter Schools in San Francisco. I was the first to arrive and Steve Good, the executive director greeted me. Soon after I arrived, Sunny Schwartz arrived. Sunny is a legend in San Francisco because of jail reforms that she led during a long career with the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department. She is the author of a famous book titled The Monster Factory. We also met Jason Jones, who is the leader of the University of Phoenix in the San Francisco Bay area. Together, we toured a large jail in San Bruno that includes a complete wing of classrooms. Steve Good is the principal of the school and he gave us all a guided tour. I’m really grateful to have made these connections and I look forward to building a relationship with the leadership of both the Five Keyes Charter Schools and with Dr. Brant Choate of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. I feel privileged that they included me on this tour.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma and San Francisco
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful to God for guiding me through my journey of imprisonment. That guidance empowered me, enabling me to sustain a high level of discipline and energy through my journey. As a consequence, my return to society is much better than anyone would expect.

Appointments:

Today I met with several leaders of educational programs in prison. I met with Dr. Brant Choate, Steve Good, Dr. Jason Jones, and Sunny Schwartz.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 87
Time I woke: 4:00
Journal of activities:

I spent this morning at my computer writing. Every day brings more writing responsibilities, not only with social media and the responsibility to document my journey. I must also sow seeds to strengthen my support network and to bring more awareness to the products the Michael G. Santos Foundation has begun to sell. Those writing tasks kept my busy until noon. I couldn’t even take time to run. Then I drove to San Francisco State University so that I could make final preparations for the class. Today we had the good fortune of listening to Stephanie James, the Chief Probation Officer of San Joaquin County. I’m immensely grateful to her for making the two-plus hour drive from Stockton to San Francisco for the purpose of speaking to our students. Stephanie began by telling our students about her educational background and career. Then she helped us understand more about how the probation department operates. I really appreciated the insight she provided and I feel incredibly blessed that she supports my work. It’s really a wonderful validation to have law enforcement officials behind me. In addition to Ms. James, Sammy Nunez brought a cadre of his group from the Fathers and Families of San Joaquin County to attend our class.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Sunny day in Petaluma and San Francisco
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m immensely grateful for the many blessings that flow my way. Each day brings more opportunities to contribute to the world.

Appointments:

Today I met with my students at SFSU and with Stephanie James, the Chief Probation officer of San Joaquin County.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 86
Time I woke: 4:00
Journal of activities:

This morning I began my work at 4:00 am. I had to complete some writing projects because I had a busy day ahead. I drove Justin to the airport at 11:00 am. From the airport in Oakland  I drove to San Francisco State University and met with a photographer from the school newspaper. His name is Dariel and he wanted to snap photographs for an article that is scheduled to run next week. Then I attended a different criminal justice class that Professor Kelly Carroll teaches. Kelly retired as a homicide detective and now teaches a course on ethics in the criminal justice system. I provided a one hour lecture about my journey and about what I learned as a long-term prisoner. Then, after the class concluded, I drove to Stanford to attend a fund raising event for the Reset Foundation. Jane Wilson and Jen Porter run the Reset Foundation, an innovative project to open a prison with a fundamentally different operating philosophy. The Reset prison will begin preparing offenders for release immediately upon their entry into the institution. The focus will be on education and vocational training while individuals serve sentences of between two and three years.  Jen and Jane asked that I provide the group with a brief presentation on my story, my experience with education, and how serving tie in an institution like Reset is proposing would have advanced my cause.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma, Oakland, San Francisco, and Palo Alto
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful that I’m finding more opportunities to contribute to society and I’m finding a warm reception everywhere I go.

Appointments:

This morning I met with Justin; this afternoon I met with a photographer from SFSU who took pictures for a story; this evening I met with many people at an event in Palo Alto for the Reset Foundation.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 85
Time I woke: 3:00 am
Journal of activities:

Justin and I stayed at the Waterfront Plaza Hotel in Stockton last night. We had dinner with Councilman Michael Tubbs and Jerron Jordan. I woke early this morning to update my social media sites and 4:30 I went to the hotel gym to run 10 miles on the treadmill. Justin made a contact with Brian Sandy, president of the Stockton Thunder Hockey Team in the hotel.  We had lunch with Brian and told him about our efforts to help more offenders transition into society as law abiding citizens. We also returned to Fathers and Families for a second day of facilitator training. In the evening we had dinner with our friend Lee Nobmann.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: 4:30 am
• Lenght of time: 1.6 hours
• Miles run today: 10
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny, but cool in Stockton
• Consecutive days: 1
• Cumulative miles since day off: 10
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful that others in the community find value in programs that we’re creating and that they want to collaborate with us.

Appointments:

I spent a second day woking with the Fathers and Families organization in Stockton. I also had lunch with Brian Sandy, president of the Stockton Thunder Hockey Team.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 84
Time I woke: 3:00 am
Journal of activities:

I woke this morning at 3:00 am to begin preparing for a busy day. My friend Justin and I had scheduled a training session in Stockton. We left my house at 5:40 so that we could arrive a couple hours before our meeting. We wanted to discuss strategies going forward, sharing ideas on how we could advance our work. Justin is going to begin learning the technology of Salesforce so that we can better track our leads and build a client base. I taught the Straight-A Guide to a group of facilitators at Fathers and Families, then Justin and I checked in to the Waterfront Hotel and did some more strategizing. We had dinner with councilman Michael Tubbs and Jerron Jordan.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Partly cloudy in Stockton
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful for every opportunity I have to contribute to society.

Appointments:

Today I traveled to Stockton to make a presentation for the Fathers and Family community in Stockton.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 83
Time I woke: 3:00 am
Journal of activities:

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Overcast and warm in Petaluma
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful for these opportunities to contribute to society every day, even when I work from home.

Appointments:

Today I woke up feeling eager to run. I wanted to run back-to-back marathon distances. The problem is that I have too many work responsibilities. So instead of running, I worked at my computer to update all of my students work at SFSU. I brought the grades current and I wrote out the plans for the class that I’ll lead next Thursday. I had to complete this work today because I’ve got such a busy schedule over the next few days. My friend Justin Paperny is flying into Oakland today and we’ll work together to build our sales strategy. Tomorrow and Tuesday we’ll be in Stockton training our partners at Fathers and Families on how facilitators can use the Straight-A Guide as a tool to help prepare former offenders for the labor market. I have a busy, busy schedule for the next two weeks. But I’m reserving next Sunday for another marathon distance. I miss the regular long runs. Last Friday, I presented with my friend Malik Wade at Stanford. He too served a lengthy term in prison and he is now working to help at-risk kids prepare for success. Both of us are dealing with the challenge of keeping a commitment to exercise while simultaneously balancing the responsibilities of society.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 82
Time I woke: 4:00 am
Journal of activities:

Early this morning I completed some work related to my teaching job at San Francisco State University. That job requires many, many hours each week. I’m grateful for this opportunity to share all that I’ve learned about the prison experience. At 8:20 I left my house and began a long run. A busy writing and speaking and work schedule has made it difficult for me to squeeze in many long runs, but I have an obligation. Early this year I said that I would run 13 marathon distances. I’m way behind schedule. Today I decided to start making progress and I ran another marathon distance. The run went much better than I anticipated it would. Neither my ankle nor my shoulder bothered me at all. I ran alone and thought about strategies I could pursue to open more sales channels. Then I returned home and resumed my work.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: 8:20 am
• Lenght of time: 5 hours
• Miles run today: 26.2
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma
• Consecutive days: 1
• Cumulative miles since day off: 26.2
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 7

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful that I feel strong and healthy and that I’m surrounded by love.

Appointments:

Today my friend Lee Nobmann stopped by to visit me after my marathon run.

Links to publications:

Days since my release from 26 years in prison: 81
Time I woke: 4:00
Journal of activities:

Today was another busy day for me. In the early morning I brought myself current with some correspondence and completed other writing projects. I wanted to run, but the schedule for me is simply too full right now. I need to sacrifice running to accelerate this business that I’m striving to build. As a consequence of yesterday’s successful meeting with officials in Santa Clara County, I spent this early morning drafting a purchase order agreement that detailed the services we would provide. Then I drove to Stanford so that I could participate in a workshop and seminar the university sponsored on transformative justice. On the way there, I stopped off to purchase some flowers for Joan Petersilia, a mentor of mine. We met before the event and she told me about the many exciting projects she is working on. A group of her peers honored Joan with a prestigious award in Sweden for her work to bring more awareness to the problem of preparing prisoners for their return to society. At 2:30, my friend Malik Wade and I presented at the workshop known as Shaking the Foundations. Then, in the late afternoon, I listened to Purvi Shah, an advocate, deliver the keynote address on “transformative lawyering.” She was an amazing speaker.

Exercise Routine-

• Time: No exercise
• Lenght of time: No exercise
• Miles run today: 0
• Weather: Beautiful and sunny in Petaluma, and in Palo Alto
• Consecutive days: 0
• Cumulative miles since day off: 0
• Pushups today: 0
• Cumulative pushups for month: 0
• Annual marathon tally: 6

Gratitude prayer:

I’m grateful to God for every day that I have on earth, wherever I am and what ever I am doing.

Appointments:

Today I met with Joan Petersilia, a mentor of mine for many years, and many others at Stanford University.

Links to publications: