Tri-City Medical Center Marathon, 5 hours 10 minutes

3:45 Wake-up time. Gotta get to the starting line by 6 am. Start time temp, 41 degrees. Yep, even in San Diego. I walk up to the front of the race and see the CEO of the Tri-City Medical Center on a 20ft ladder, welcoming the racers. He asked me if I would run the marathon 4 months ago. I think I made his day when I showed up. We high-fived each other. The local newspaper was there and they took my photo since I was running for the hospital.

I saw a local competitor heart surgeon there with his son. He introduced me to his son, then seemed to quickly shuffle away when he realized who I was. Can’t we all just get along?

On your marks, get ready, go! The first song on my iPod was Wholly Holy Way by the Agape choir. Funny how God plays just the right song when you shuffle your iPod.

I was running with the big-dogs. Then, I wasn’t running with the big-dogs.

At mile 2, we turn the corner and there’s the Pacific Ocean with these giant, crashing waves. So Much Magnificence by Miten is now playing. The lyrics: “There is so much magnificence, near the ocean. Near the ocean. Waves are crashing in, waves are crashing in.” Cue in the flock of pelicans cruising over the waves.

Left turn, away from the ocean, our first hill. The sun is just peeking over the horizon. Rays are radiating off of it. Amazing Grace by Paul Schwartz is the background music.

Ok, about mile 7, Chasing Cars by Snow patrol. One of the favorites of Lisa and I. Nothing like dedicating a mile to your wife.

Continuing on, one of the bands is setting up. Looking for inspiration, I shout, “Drum solo!” The band breaks into “Wipe out”

Oh man, they didn’t say there were going to be hills. Higher Power by Boston fuels the fire.

Gu, a thick energy goop, water and some sports drink are available at every mile. I feel bad that I can’t remember what the sports drink was. I guess I was more worried about survival than marketing.

Mile 13. Halfway there. I should have signed up for the Half Marathon.

Mile 16. My legs suddenly stopped working. What happened? Everything was going fine. Must be the wall. Woman with cute butt goes by. “Look cool, look cool.”  And…. I’m not looking too cool.

Mile 19: I let out a not-so-manly shriek and now I’m walking. Oh my God, 7.2 miles to go. Ay, yay, yay.

Around mile 21, there’s a band playing “Free-bird” with a guitarist who’s just shredding up the solo. One of Art Albani’s favorite songs. A friend of my who died at age 44 a few years back. This mile if for you. Magically, my legs start working again.

Walking up hill and running down hill, I make it to mile 25. Everytime I would start running again I would get all misty-eyed. “I just want to inspire people.” I thought. “I don’t know why, I just do”

I must have heard, “Just a quarter-mile left,” about 20 times during that last mile. Cruel people.

Turning the corner to the left, The Finish Line! “Michael Sasevich from La Jolla, ladies and gentlemen.” The announcer declares. “How do you feel, Michael?” “Woo Hoo!” I reply. Trying not to break down into tears, a classic Sasevich tradition.

Our Nanny, Nadia, brought the kids. “Yeah Daddy!! “Can I wear the medal?” asks my 6 year old, Elijah. Of course you can.  

Who am I for you?

I am HERE for you. My life’s purpose is to love ALL people and serve them with all my heart. Specifically, that means YOU.

What does that mean? That means that I have worked hard, trained hard and been turning over every stone of my being to serve you, help you and make your life better. No kidding.

If your life is better, my life is better. That’s just where I’ve come to in my life.

So, how will I serve you?  One obvious answer to that is through heart surgery. Heart disease is the #1 killer in the United States by a long-shot. Odds are, you are going to be dealing with your very own heart and the health of your heart during your lifetime. You probably will not need heart surgery. If you do, I am here to provide the best heart surgery on the planet.

If you never need heart surgery, I am here to connect you with the best cardiologists, healers and heart-centered human beings ever known to man.

If your heart is healthy, you exercise and eat well, I am here to provide you with ways to keep it that way.

Need a boost?  I am here to provide you with challenges to improve your heart and empower your heart.

Need spiritual food?  I have a direct connection to God.  Either I or someone I know can help you to re-connect to The Universe, Your Higher Power, The All That Is, or simply Your Self.

Is your heart broken?  I was born 2 hours after Valentine’s Day.  I’m an Aquarian; born in the Year of The Monkey.  I can help you to heal your heart.  Rekindle your faith.  Remind you of who you really are when you may have forgotten.

But Michael, what about the 20 bucks you owe me?  Well, I am human.  If there’s some way that I’ve hurt you, wronged you or not been who I say I am, we should talk.  We all have or have had blind spots.  I, like you, am on a journey of self-discovery.  And, I’m getting older.  Time is running out for me, for you, and for us.  Let’s get on with it.

I am here for you and I am committed to your heart and all of it’s permutations.  If there is something I can do for you, we should talk.  And DO NOT GIVE UP until we do.

LOVE.

Feeling sick? You, the Body Whisperer.

A stuffed-up, runny nose is annoying, a sore throat won’t let you sleep and the muscle and body aches of a cold or flu are down-right miserable. The various presentations of chest pain from a heart attack will suddenly make all of your other worries pale in comparison. That chronic smokers cough may be telling you to go see your doctor. You may just be your very own, personal body-whisperer.

I am an optimist. Too bad, so sad. Even in my own pits of despair while having the flu last week, I found heaven. First, my wife Lisa got sick. Two days later, my 3-yr old daughter and I also came down with the flu. In the midst of our misery, I was struck by the gift of spending an entire day holding her hand. I also noticed that she was holding mine.

Two nights later, on day four of being ill, I decided to go to a meditation. My thoughts as I was driving there were familiar to us all, “I’m still sick. I’d better not go.” So, I went.

Funny how while going inside to my heart, away from my head, my illness subsided. I felt the warm presence of my creator, followed by “the chills”. Only those chills were different from the ones I was having in a pool-of-sweat two nights earlier. Those were the “tingly chills”. You know, the ones you feel when God is touching you and you wonder, “Is that God touching me?”

My meditation ended with me crying endlessly and uncontrollably with tears of gratitude. Gratitude for one of my mentors Dr. Folkerth, who is taking me under his wing to show me the ropes of the next phase of my heart surgery career. Gratitude that in the midst of my misery, God is there holding my hand, just like my daughter did.

Gratitude that illness, pains and body problems are actually a little messenger that “Something is up. Better take some time and look inside and contemplate who I’ve been in my life recently or even throughout it.”

What is Your Marathon?

You can’t run?  Your knees are messed up?  You’re overweight?  Maybe that’s all true.  Ok, so what is the next marathon of your life that you’re willing to take on?  I start cutting in San Diego shortly after January 1^st at the Tri-city Medical Center in Oceanside, CA.  As part of the deal, the hospital CEO Larry Anderson asked if I would be willing to run in the Carlsbad Marathon on Sunday, January 24^th, which is sponsored by the Tri-City Medical Center. 

I attempted to do the LA marathon twice before in the 90’s.  Both times, I started training and pulled a muscle or got shin-splints early on and never followed through.  I’ve always wanted to run a marathon.  Not because it sounds that fun but because I love to challenge myself.  Well, I’m now 41 years old and the odds of me actually doing a marathon predictably will become less and less as I get older.

The marathon is in 30 days.  Do I go for it?  Do I chicken out because I’m afraid?  What if I don’t even come close to finishing?  What if I severely injure myself?  Sound familiar to you?  You may not be even remotely interested in doing a marathon but I do know that you have some marathon before you that you’ve always wanted to tackle and you’ve either failed or you chickened out.

One of my commitments for 2009 was to have an effective, fun and enlivening time management system in place to manage my time and projects powerfully by December 31^st, 2009.  I just completed Anthony Robbins’ “The Time of Your Life” 10 session cd series, in which he teaches his system and how he manages his life and commitments.  www.TonyRobbins.com.  The best part of the course was that Tony had me discover my ultimate vision for my life and why I wanted that vision.  From there, I realized that I choose to run this marathon not from my fear of getting old, or from my old drive of wanting to look cool.  I choose to run this marathon for the 169,684 people of Oceanside and the 3,001.072 of San Diego.  I am their heart surgeon.  Their and your taxes helped create the student loans, which made it possible for me to even become a heart surgeon.  Time to pay it back, in spades.

So, what’s your marathon?  Is it some way to give back to your community?  Is it something that you can do for yourself and your heart?  Is it learning how to swim?  Is it something you’ve always wanted to do or become and failed to accomplish?  You have 30 days.  GO!!

Dream no small dreams for these have no power to move the hearts of men.  (or womenJ). –Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

What is your teaching? A message to your soul.

Ever wonder, “What in the hell am I here for, anyways?  Sipping mai-tai’s on the beach at sunset is WONDERFUL, once in a while.  That “new-car” smell is AMAZING when you drive that car off the lot, until you make your first payment.

I have lived a blessed life.  When I was in my 20’s, I wrote down all of the things that I wanted to accomplish, experience and acquire.  Like most of you, I’ve been fortunate to have all of that.  The only problem is that once you actually get all of the carrots you’ve been chasing, you may notice that you’ve been left with this nagging feeling of “something is still missing”.  Now, I know that you have gratitude for all of it.  What I’m addressing is the “something is still missing” feeling that you still have.  I believe that we are each here to teach something profound, important and unique.

Did you ever have that feeling that, “No one can do it the way I can.”  Or “Why doesn’t X exist in the world?  It should be here.”  Did you ever wonder why so many people are following and not leading?

The reason for this is that YOU ARE THE TEACHER for the message you are seeking.  You are the LEADER. “I’m not the leader.  I’m too shy.  I’m too old.  I’m too young.  I’m too F’d  up.”

Did you ever wonder why you feel tired, worn out, burnt out, and depressed?  That is because you have something unique to teach the rest of us.  Your energy level and enthusiasm are directly correlated to whether or not you are getting that message out into the world, or not.

The bad news is that now that you’ve read this message to your soul, you will become painfully aware of when you are not leading and when you are not teaching what you are meant to teach.

The good news is that THE WORLD you seek to see out there will show up as soon as you STEP UP.

I am just the messenger.  In the old days, we would have had to wait weeks for the pony express to deliver this message.  Well, here it is in your hot little hands.

With deep respect and admiration,

Love, Michael