Midwest Mumblings

To My Daughter on Your First Day of Kindergarten

2011-08-23T23:07:00.014-05:00

There’s always been a connection between dads and their little girls and ours was cemented from the start. Barely five years ago, your mom called me at work from her doctor’s appointment. “The doctor broke my water,” she said casually. “Oh,” I said, apparently not realizing at the moment that the second addition to Team Wuori was coming that very afternoon.

They say that the second child sometimes gets the short end of the stick. Fewer photos. A little less wonderment at the things they do. A little more casual behavior on the part of the parents since we’ve “been there and done that” with the first. If that’s been the case, you’ve more than convinced us that we take you for granted at our own peril. Now, here we are, ready to send you off to kindergarten, to follow in your brother’s footsteps and to forge a new trail of your own.

You’ve been a bundle of energy and excitement since we first brought you home. Eager to learn. Eager to voice your opinion. Eager to sass your brother. Eager to prove me right when I tell people,“don’t mess with Kristen.” Eager to prove your strength.

You broke your arm on my watch when you were three, falling off the monkey bars as we enjoyed a fun afternoon of scampering about at our neighborhood playground. Never once during those six weeks in a tiny purple cast did you complain. Never once did you slow down, either. Strong.

You tackled the challenge of learning to ride a bike without training wheels and earned your stripes three months earlier than your brother had. Strong.

You saw Alex finish a somewhat perilous climb on a large log in the Rocky Mountain National Park. “C’mon, Kristen,” I said, “we need to keep moving.” “Daaaad,” you replied with both a stern word and focused look, “I wanna climb on that too.” And so you did. Strong.

You park yourself regularly in the corner of your room with a pile of books, “reading” out loud and telling me, when I’ve asked what you’re doing, that you are “growing my giant brain.” Strong.

You fired up your little legs and pushed through the heat to finish the State Street Mile just a few months past your fifth birthday. Strong.

I wrote once on this very blog that what the world needed was more strong women. Women like Paula Newby-Fraser. Susan Collins. Dara Torres. Indra Nooyi. Annie Leibovitz. Sally Ride. Joycelyn Elders. Your namesake Kristen Daly. Hillary Clinton. Christiane Amanpour. Your mom.

These are women who have achieved greatness in sports, in the arts, in medicine, in science, in politics, in business, in journalism. Women who aren’t afraid of challenges. Women who didn’t start out with fancy titles. Women who sacrifice because they want to leave the world a better place than they found it. Women who work hard and get stuff done. Women who bring it and earn it. Women who find something inside of themselves that few have. Women with passion and energy and drive and enthusiasm. Women who say, “Go ahead. You can push me. I will do this and there’s nothing you can do to me to keep me from my goals.” Women who are strong.

Like all fathers, I revel in what you are and I dream of what you will become. I take my responsibility seriously to show you the world; to teach you right from wrong; to impart upon you the importance of helping others; to help you face your fears and overcome them; to teach you to push yourself when you want to quit; to grow your brain and never stop learning; to help you become. . . strong.

A few months ago you asked me, rather casually, "Daddy, do you get to keep your name when you are a grown-up? Will I still be Kristen?"

"Of course," I answered, "you will always be Kristen."

And, in my head, I thought, “you’ll always be my little girl, no matter where you are or what you are doing.”

Good luck in kindergarten and beyond, my strong little Kristen, you’re gonna do great.

Confessions of a Teenage Paperboy

2011-03-12T16:59:00.002-06:00

What was your first real job? I was a teenage paperboy.

TIME Magazine published a piece in mid-February about the decline in the number of kids who deliver the daily newspaper. According to the article, only about 13 percent of today’s newspaper delivery people are “kids,” down from nearly 70 percent in 1990. While there are a number of reasons for the decline, the article points primarily to two: the changing manner in which newspapers are distributed and the flight of families from the “suburbs to the exurbs,” which are too vast in size for kids to cover by foot or on a bike.

Reading that piece took me instantly back to the three years I delivered papers for the Times Leader, at that time a six-day-a-week paper based in the northeastern Pennsylvania city of Wilkes-Barre. I got the job early in eighth grade and I can remember the sights, sounds, smells, blood, sweat and tears like it was yesterday.

Northeastern Pennsylvania is hilly in general and we lived in the Back Mountain area outside of Wilkes-Barre. My alarm would go off at the insane hour of 4:45 a.m. and I was usually out the door in a mental fog by 5. I would hop on my trusty blue Sears bike with the Y-shaped handlebars that my Dad had bought me some years earlier, not knowing at the time that it would someday cradle a bag of newspapers just perfectly.

I delivered about 30 papers each morning and the drop-off point for my stack was three blocks from my house on a corner near an elementary school. Two more downhill blocks from there was the start of my route.

My bike and I delivered those papers through all kinds of conditions—wind, rain, cold, snow— rarely asking one of my parents for a ride unless the temperature dipped into the low single digits or if a blowing snowstorm was simply too much for me to handle. What was most enjoyable about the route was the quiet, the fresh morning air and the feeling that those of us awake and moving at that hour didn’t have to share the world with too many others.

I had that route down cold. I knew who wanted their paper placed under the porch mat and who wanted it slipped inside the storm door. Who wanted it folded and who liked it flat. I used mouse-like reflexes to keep old, beaten-down porches from creaking as I gingerly placed the paper inside someone’s attached mailbox.

I became intimately aware of people’s routines and knew who got up when, who came home late, and what they might have had for dinner the previous night. I could tell you who drank Folgers and who drank Maxwell House. Whose house was sealed up tight and who should have invested in a better set of curtains. I knew if I was on time simply by the way a customer’s house was lit up. “Oh, the upstairs light in the Johnson house isn’t on yet? Sweet! I’m running ahead of schedule.”

Every two weeks, I’d go on “collection” where I’d roam the neighborhood and get my $4 from each customer for two weeks worth of newspapers, plus a tip. Only rarely did I stalk anyone looking for “my two dollars,” but when the movie Better Off Dead came out in 1985, you could bet that I and my fellow paperboys and girls were there in spirit with the tenacious carrier chasing John Cusack around town.

The end of my route was a dead-end street in a wooded area a good two miles from my house. One morning after turning around following the delivery of my last paper, I was cornered, literally, by a snarling German Shepherd-sized mutt with a Cujo-like attitude that said “it’s either you or me.” He was blocking my way out of the neighborhood and just wouldn’t let me pass. His disheveled look, menacing bark and healthy set of snapping teeth trumped my desire to get home.

After hemming and hawing for about 10 minutes, hoping he might retreat, I finally summoned the courage to bang on someone’s door and ask for help, not an easy thing to do when the sun’s not up yet. The man who answered knew the dog was trouble so he called the police while I waited patiently on his porch. Fortunately, an officer arrived quickly and was able to use his car to block the dog from getting me. I’ll always remember the reassuring look he gave me after the dog had retreated to the woods. “If that dog bothers you again,” he muttered,” I’ll shoot it myself.” I have no doubt that he meant that.

Times have changed and it’s mostly adults now who deliver today’s newspapers by car, sliding them into our mailboxes or depositing them with a thud on our driveways early in the morning. That’s all well and good, I suppose, and I certainly appreciate a dry paper on a rainy or snowy morning. However, there’s nothing like a paper route to teach a kid responsibility, discipline, money management and the ability, or inability I guess, to outsmart a snarling dog at 6 in the morning.

Post-Marathon Post Mortem

2009-10-14T10:19:00.001-05:00

“Well, that sucked.”

Pretty much sums up my feelings right after we crossed the finish line on Sunday. Quad and knee pain started to kick in heavily around mile 17 or so, forcing me to walk a bit and slowing us down. I’m certainly happy to have that fourth medal but it was a bit frustrating to have a bad day on race day. Jen felt great, though, and we’d decided beforehand to finish together so it was nice that she helped me drag my butt across the line.

Spent the last three days trying to figure it out and there’s really not much to analyze beyond the fact that, as the cliché says, some days you feel great and some days you don’t. Sunday was the latter and it was unfortunate that it happened on race day.

Conversely, I am pretty happy that I gutted it out and finished only 15 minutes slower than my goal of 4:30. There’s some satisfaction in that and in the fact that our training had really gone pretty well with only a few minor speed bumps along the way. Our 20 mile runs were good. Our speed training and tempo runs felt great, for the most part. We overscheduled ourselves in the last six weeks with kid stuff and work things and that impacted our ability to cross train, which may have hurt me. In the end, I took the race I was given and made the most of it.

Random notes:

*Saw some great signs and writing on shirts along the way including: “Chafe today, brag forever.” “I’m running with my daughter,” on a mid-50s man, right next to a 20-something woman with “I’m running with my father.” “Run like someone’s chasing you.” My favorite was on the back of a runner: “Sometime in the future, there will come a day when we will not be able to do this. This is NOT one of those days.”

*Felt weird to start the race all bundled up as we faced temps in the low 30s that never really climbed above the low 40s all day. Stayed in three layers and my running pants through the whole race and was shivering uncontrollably for 15 minutes afterward due to exertion and the cold. After two years of extreme heat, ironic that we’d face chilly temps on race day.

*Mentally, I’m incredibly happy to be done with marathons for a while. Both Jen and I really became burned out this summer and we’re jazzed about throttling it back to half-marathons and cross training. In some sense, I think we’ll be in even better shape with the added cross training and the variety. Adding to that, we’ve signed up for this half marathon in February, providing extra motivation to train hard through the winter and forcing us to take a little vacation to boot.

T-Minus 1 Day and Counting. . .

2009-10-10T11:54:00.001-05:00

As I write this, it’s about 20 hours until the start of the 2009 Chicago Marathon and the culmination of another long training season for Team Wuori. I’m sitting in our hotel room at the Renaissance, looking east toward Chicago as the skyline pokes through the early-morning haze and watching planes make their way toward the airport.

We’re on the east/west O’Hare flight pattern and the planes literally pass right over our hotel room, gear already down, about 60-90 seconds from landing. Soundproof glass and the fact that I’m a plane junkie make this a pleasant location.

My emotions are all over the board but in general I’m feeling good about the race and how our training went this summer. There seemed to be a few more aches and pains than in previous years and I missed two longer runs due to injury and illness. However, I think I’m in better overall shape that I’ve been in our three previous marathons.

Even experienced marathoners have pre-race doubts and I’m no exception. I’m a little concerned about my left knee and left ankle, which have been bothering me off and on this summer. I’m also a little perplexed by what to wear. With morning temps in the low 30s, staying warm in the early miles may be a challenge. While I know I’ll warm up once things get going, it’s the 45-60 minutes of pre-race waiting that may take its toll.

One other thought that I keep returning to is to enjoy the experience. I tend to get so worked up in worrying about the weather, my aches and pains and my time goals that I sometimes forget that this is supposed to be fun. Running with 40,000 runners, each with their own individual story, in a sea of a million spectators, should be an inspirational and exciting experience. I just need to remember to stay in the moment and enjoy it. Just a little bit.

T-Minus 2 Days and Counting. . .

2009-10-08T21:18:00.002-05:00

Good run on Wednesday a.m. Did 3.1 in about 28 minutes, taking great pains to go nice and slow. Was a little groggy from lack of a “wake up” shower that I usually take before our morning runs. And, hadn’t eaten breakfast yet. All in all, though, I did feel fine.

Our bigger concern right now is weather. Forecast is for morning temps to be in the high 20s/low 30s, with the daily high only at 46. No rain forecast yet, which is good. However, the temps mean that we will most likely be running most of the race in the 30s, which creates a whole different set of issues. I’m not as concerned about my upper body as I am about my lower body. I’m trying to figure whether or not to wear my polypro running pants or not for the duration of the race.

I’ve run 3-5 miles in them before but never a long run and I just don’t want to end up with chafing issues halfway into the race. I’ve begun thinking about having running shorts on under the running pants and then just running in that until I feel comfortable enough to lose the running pants. Decisions. Decisions.

We’ll have “throwaway” clothes to wear on the train to downtown and to keep on before the start. That's really where I have most of my concern. We'll be at the starting area for about an hour before we actually start running and it's during that time that we'll have the potential to be really cold. So, gonna dress in layers and just plan to throw off some stuff as the start gets closer. It's a weird scene but necessary.

Received some good advice in the mass e-mail from the race medical director reminding runners that we want to be cold the first couple of miles and to dress as though it were 20 degrees warmer. Just need to keep remembering that.

We're going to try to get in one final 3- or 4-mile run tomorrow morning or afternoon, weather permitting, just to keep the legs fresh. Then, it's relaxation city until the start.

T-Minus 4 Days and Counting. . .

2009-10-06T22:12:00.002-05:00

Our plan this week as we zero in on race day is to do 3-4 miles each day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday just to keep the legs loose. Ran last night after class and cranked out an easy 3 in just under 27 minutes, coming in just as the dark was becoming an issue. Did the loop around Rock Valley College with a glorious sunset giving way to dusk and then darkness. Temps were low 50s, the run was effortless and the tunes on the Shuffle were just right. This is what running is all about and it felt great. Going to head out on Wednesday morning to do about 3 or 4 and probably do the same on Friday morning.

T-Minus 7 Days and Counting. . .

2009-10-03T22:28:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are. One week from right now, I'll be sitting in a hotel in Chicago getting ready to get a fitful night of sleep as I ready for our fourth Chicago Marathon. It's been a long road of training and it's nice to be ready as we near the end.

Did our final long run today; 10 miles with 5 out from home and back. Temps were a bit chilly, not that I'm complaining, with the long-term forecast for next week looking about the same. Had a couple of takeaways from today's run. First of all, I'm in wicked good shape, as they say in Maine. Knocked off 10.15 miles in 1:34:22, averaging just under 9:20 pace, much faster than we'll run next week. Felt great, nearly from start to finish, from a cardio standpoint.

On the not-so-great front, I had some knee pain toward the end and my connective tissue from my leg to foot is sore, as it has been after most of my 10+ mile runs. I look at it this way; it's general fatigue from all of the running this summer and I'll be able to have a good recovery following the race.

My pain tolerance is fairly high and if I have to suffer next week, it'll be worth it to have that medal hanging from my neck. We're set for a few short runs this week, just to keep the legs fresh. And, news flash, I'm getting my first-ever massage on Wednesday in the hopes that it'll loosen me up a bit for the big race.

More thoughts to come. . .

T-Minus 11 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-29T21:41:00.003-05:00

Well, if today was an indication of the kind of shape I'm in, then this training has certainly worked its magic. I did my 3 x 1600 intervals and experienced the not-always-attainable negative splits, where your last intervals are faster than your first. Running from home on my usual out and back that involves a half mile down and then another up to the mile mark, I cranked out the first in 7:55, the second in 7:58 (running further south a half mile and then turning around) and the third all the way back in an unreal 7:24. Perceived effort for that last mile was well under what was indicative of the time and my recovery was quick as well. Was quite stunned at my time when I looked at my watch; a nice problem to have.

Couple of random thoughts:

*I'm feeling good right now about my conditioning but am a little concerned about how my feet, ankles and quads/hamstrings are going to hold up on race day. This time around I seem to be a little more beaten up physically, though I'm in better overall shape. I'm really going to try to schedule a massage for next week, as I think that will help loosen and limber me up for race day. Make no mistake, though. I fully expect to be downright trashed on Monday after the race.

*I've mentioned in another post that both Jen and I are a little burned out right now and are looking forward to being done with the marathon. One positive byproduct of that that's seemed to have crept up in the last couple of days is this; I'm not nearly as "nervous" about the race as I have been in years past. Part of that is experience; this is our fourth marathon and we have a good training plan, a good race weekend plan and we know what to expect. The other part is that I'm happy with my conditioning and know that I can complete the 26.2 miles. It's a nice place to be in but I'm still looking forward to being done, damn it!

T-Minus 12 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-28T08:44:00.000-05:00

I’m all over the board with this post as we now duck under the two week mark until the big day.

I was back at it on Sunday after a week-long hiatus to rest my incredibly-sore hamstring. In the end, it was a weird injury in that I had high levels of pain attempting to walk up the stairs but never had pain going down the stairs or on the bike or even doing some light jogging. Odd.

Anyway, I did 5 miles in about 46 minutes, which was an easy 9:20 pace or so. Kept waiting for some kind of pain to appear but it never did. Had to shake off the cobwebs that come with not running for seven days but overall I felt really good. Jen had razzed me about not going too hard and, surprisingly, I heeded her advice and eased back into it. Looking back, I probably could have handled the 15 miles with her and Mary on Saturday but sometimes it’s better to play it safe, rather than risk further injury.

I’d done 45 minutes on the bike at the Y on Friday night and felt great during that ride as well. My level of cardio conditioning is such that that felt like a very easy workout even though my pace and cadence was high.

This is a critical point in the training as we taper to get our bodies ready for race day. This week we’re set for 3 x 1600 intervals, an 8-mile tempo run and then 10 miles on Saturday. Going to work in some cross training as well just to keep the legs fresh.

T-Minus 16 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-24T10:24:00.000-05:00

Pain. And a lot of it. After the successful 20-miler, I seemed to be recovering fairly well on Monday and into Tuesday. Had a little leg soreness and some regular pain in my left ankle tendons but nothing out of the ordinary.

That all changed on Tuesday afternoon when I began to have serious pain in my left quad/hamstring area. Had sat through a four-hour training session that morning but am not sure if that had anything to do with it. It’s since become problematic enough that I can’t quite put much weight on it to go up stairs.

Even more annoying is that I can’t figure out exactly what the problem is. I rode the bike for 30 minutes yesterday at the Y with absolutely no pain at all during the ride. Going up stairs was nearly impossible, however, and this morning the leg is even more sore. Jen did a quick eval last night and is thinking it might be that my hamstring is strained. Part of me isn’t quite sure that’s it but can’t quite figure it out.

My plan at the moment is to take two full days off, at least, and skip the 15-mile run on Saturday. My fitness level is such that I have a better shot at still finishing the race in two weeks if I lay off now and recover rather than trying to push through it and injure myself even more. Rather frustrating to be hit with this during the last two weeks.

Mentally, right now I’m in a different place than I was last year when I was injured with about eight weeks to go and had to take six weeks off from running and just cross train. Last year, I was frustrated and apprehensive about possibly missing out on the race. This year, I’ve become somewhat burned out by all the training and am desperately looking forward to the end of marathon training and the transition back to pure cross training (running, biking, swimming, weights, etc.) If I’m able to recover in time and finish the race, that would be great. If not, I think I’m OK with that too.

Injuries suck.

T-Minus 19 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-21T10:32:00.002-05:00

Our 20-miler yesterday in Chicago was a mixed bag but, in the end, I think I’m feeling pretty good about where our training is with three weeks to go. I said to Jen at the end that while I didn’t feel great during the run, I didn’t feel like total crap either. How’s that for a summation?

We did the Chicago Area Runners Association Ready to Run 20 Miler, which is an organized run scheduled to coincide with training programs for the Chicago Marathon. It’s capped at about 5,000 runners who leave in waves from Foster Ave. Beach, head north briefly, and then turn south to run all the way down the lakefront to the South Shore Cultural Center. It includes aid stations and support along with way and a small post-run festival at the end. It’s fun and a nice break from having to come up with another 20-mile route on our own.

Temps were perfect, upper 50s, as we shoved off a little before 7 a.m. We treated this run as a rehearsal for the race and were focused on taking gel every 5 miles or so, walking quickly through the aid stations and getting back at it, etc. The first 5 miles were good as we dialed in slightly under our 10-minute/mile pace. We were feeling good from miles 5 to 10, as well, as we held pace and kept moving along. Temps picked up a bit as the sun was up higher but it wasn’t much of a factor because of the low humidity.

Miles 10 to 15 became a little more difficult, as they usually do during a run of this length. You feel good because you’ve passed the halfway point but not so good because you still have 10 miles to go. We picked it up around mile 13 and I know I was thinking, “oh, only 7 miles to go, not too bad.” Well, that happy feeling passed rather quickly and the quads and feet were beginning to feel the pain.

Miles 15 to 20 were up and down. We hit mile 17 and I felt a surge of energy as I realized we only had 3 to go. Again, that feeling passed, and I was hurting again at mile 18. The last two miles of a run this long always brings mixed emotions; “it’s only two miles, sure, but it’s still two miles to go.” Love the contradiction.

We hit the final mile and cranked it up as best we could on the narrow sidewalk with a lot of other runners. Finished pretty strong and were feeling sore but in good spirits. My ankle’s a bit sore today and the quads are a little tight but, surprisingly, I’m feeling pretty good. Mentally, I’m definitely looking forward to the race being done as I’m becoming slightly burned out by the training. It will be much more exciting to do this with thousands of other people and with thousands of others cheering us on so I’m sure that will carry me through.

We begin our three-week taper now as we give the body its rest while still keeping the legs fresh and ready to run 26.2. Cross training, sleep and nutrition will be critical as we get closer to the big day.

T-Minus 19 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-21T10:32:00.001-05:00

Our 20-miler yesterday in Chicago was a mixed bag but, in the end, I think I’m feeling pretty good about where are training is with three weeks to go. I said to Jen at the end that while I didn’t feel great during the run, I didn’t feel like total crap either. How’s that for a summation?

We did the Chicago Area Runners Association Ready to Run 20 Miler, which is an organized run scheduled to coincide with training programs for the Chicago Marathon. It’s capped at about 5,000 runners who leave in waves from Foster Ave. Beach, head north briefly, and then turn south to run all the way down the lakefront to the South Shore Cultural Center. It includes aid stations and support along with way and a small post-run festival at the end. It’s fun and a nice break from having to come up with another 20-mile route on our own.

Temps were perfect, upper 50s, as we shoved off a little before 7 a.m. We treated this run as a rehearsal for the race and were focused on taking gel every 5 miles or so, walking quickly through the aid stations and getting back at it, etc. The first 5 miles were good as we dialed in slightly under our 10-minute/mile pace. We were feeling good from miles 5 to 10, as well, as we held pace and kept moving along. Temps picked up a bit as the sun was up higher but it wasn’t much of a factor because of the low humidity.

Miles 10 to 15 became a little more difficult, as they usually do during a run of this length. You feel good because you’ve passed the halfway point but not so good because you still have 10 miles to go. We picked it up around mile 13 and I know I was thinking, “oh, only 7 miles to go, not too bad.” Well, that happy feeling passed rather quickly and the quads and feet were beginning to feel the pain.

Miles 15 to 20 were up and down. We hit mile 17 and I felt a surge of energy as I realized we only had 3 to go. Again, that feeling passed, and I was hurting again at mile 18. The last two miles of a run this long always brings mixed emotions; “it’s only two miles, sure, but it’s still two miles to go.” Love the contradiction.

We hit the final mile and cranked it up as best we could on the narrow sidewalk with a lot of other runners. Finished pretty strong and were feeling sore but in good spirits. My ankle’s a bit sore today and the quads are a little tight but, surprisingly, I’m feeling pretty good. Mentally, I’m definitely looking forward to the race being done as I’m becoming slightly burned out by the training. It will be much more exciting to do this with thousands of other people and with thousands of others cheering us on so I’m sure that will carry me through.

We begin our three-week taper now as we give the body its rest while still keeping the legs fresh and ready to run 26.2. Cross training, sleep and nutrition will be critical as we get closer to the big day.

T-Minus 21 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-19T09:44:00.002-05:00

There is at least one weird benefit when you get this far along in marathon training; sometimes it's harder to go slower than it is to go faster. Last night, I did an easy 5K in about 25:30 just to keep the legs fresh for tomorrow's 20 miler in Chicago along the lakefront. Did a quick out and back from our house and was making a concerted effort to go slow. Hit the first mile in 8:45, faster than I wanted, but was feeling good and perceived effort was low. Did the second mile in about the same and then finished up with a speedy 7:45, again with a fairly low level of effort.

I'm feeling good about the 20 miles tomorrow. Temps are supposed to be good and the course is flat and fast. More thoughts coming later. . .

T-Minus 22 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-18T11:06:00.002-05:00

Well, here we are about three weeks until the race and the training continues to progress. Did a good 3 mile run on Wednesday in 25:05, with the last mile in about 8:15. Hit the upper weights afterward and felt really fresh and rested during both parts of the workout. While speed isn't really a focus at this point in the training, the mileage base that I've built is allowing me to go fast with minimal effort during these shorter runs.

Going to do 4 miles tonight to keep the legs fresh and ready for Sunday's 20-miler in Chicago. Temps are supposed to be cool Sunday and the minimal rain threat is supposed to take place later in the day. Though it's a run, and not a race, we're going to treat it as the latter and attempt to maintain our race pace of 10 minutes/mile including any stops for Gatorade and gel. It's a flat course so I'm hopeful things will go smoothly. More updates soon.

T-Minus 26 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-14T22:07:00.002-05:00

The last few weeks after our long runs, I've taken a little extra time off until the next run and I think it's left me sluggish. So, today, I got back into it with an easy 5K in 26:25, capped off with a 7:50 last mile. Most importantly, my legs felt incredibly fresh and my turnover rate was quick from start to finish.

As we get ready for Sunday's 20-miler, I'm planning to hit my tempo run on Wednesday and then do my 6 x 1200 on Friday. I think that should keep me fresh and get the legs ready for the long run.

T-Minus 28 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-12T23:19:00.002-05:00

We were in Madison this weekend to do our 15 miles this morning. Great to have somewhere different to run as the streets of Rockford get a bit boring week after week. It's also Ironman Wisconsin weekend in the Mad City so the vibe on the Isthmus and around Lake Monona was electric as we saw many triathletes getting in a last swim/bike/run before the big day tomorrow.

Our plan was to leave my sister's house and do a straight out and back, 7.5 miles each way. Temps were good as we shoved off at 7 a.m. Cool and clear, at least to start. Picked off the first few miles on autopilot as I waited for my body to warm up. We hit Monona Terrace at about 5 miles and took some Gatorade and a gel. Felt really good at that point as we headed into some interesting lakefront neighborhoods.

Almost like clockwork, I was feeling awesome at about 6 miles as I finally warmed up. Our pace was holding steady at about 9:30 or so, slightly fast but not too problematic. Jen began having some issues at around 6.5 with a tight IT band that's been giving her some problems lately. We separated before we hit the turnaround and she took a break to get it stretched out while I kept going. Finally caught up to her back at Monona where she'd decided to call my sister and get a ride back to minimize the chances of any major injury. She finished about 11.5 miles so it wasn't too big of a deal on the mileage end. She'll be treating it this week and doesn't seem too concerned.

I kept pressing and, as it turned out, my suffering from mile 10 to the end was due to the quick pace I was holding. Did the last 5 miles in about 9:25 pace, with the last mile in 8:55, to bring in the 15 miles in 2:20:30, much faster than I would have anticipated. That pace was much quicker than we'll do the race, most likely, and it's what led to the struggle in those last 5 miles.

However, as I told Jen later, sometimes it's OK to have these kinds of runs. I was struggling in the last 3 miles and was very tempted to walk a bit numerous times. Each time I just told myself to get to the next block, mailbox, fire hydrant, etc., and each time I did the urge passed. Being able to hold that pace for about 15 miles bodes well for our last month of training.

Another tough week this week as we're set for 6 x 1200 intervals; 5 mile tempo run and then the big 20 miler in Chicago on Sunday. Read more about that here.

Minor notes:

*Having incredible soreness after the long runs in the upper connective tissue where my leg connects to my foot. Been icing it well and it usually goes away within a day or so. Kind of a mystery, though, as to what's causing it.

*Been having a few struggles in the last couple of weeks with eating the right thing on the night before our long runs. Been doing the pasta thing but had noticed that that was giving me some GI issues so had throttled that back a bit in favor of a little more protein. Laid off the pasta again last night and had Cheerios and some cinnamon bread for breakfast before the run. Took three gels and that seemed to keep my stomach full and energy level up.

*As I mentioned yesterday, we'll be re-focusing on our cross-training this week, as I think that will help the legs stay fresh.

T-Minus 29 Days and Counting. . .

2009-09-11T16:08:00.003-05:00

Had a crazy week and, again, have been lax with the blogging. Cranked out my 5-mile tempo run in 42:50 on Wednesday, with the last in 8:05 without too much effort. I felt a little sluggish for the first couple of miles, which I pinned on the extended layoff following our 20 miles on Saturday. However, the last two miles felt great and had no issues with any kind of pain, surprisingly.

We head to Madison tonight and will be doing 15 miles tomorrow along Lake Monona. It's Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon weekend so I'm pumped about soaking up the vibe tomorrow as the city gets ready for Sunday's race. Puts me in a completely different frame of mind when we get to run in a different city.

On another note, we're now four weeks away from the race and are heading into an important time. We've been a little lax with our cross-training lately due to numerous outside activities with kids and my school and it's been a little nuts. We'll be re-focusing on that beginning Monday so we make sure that we head into the race completely ready to go. Now is not the time to lose focus.

T-Minus 35 Days and Counting, Part 2. . .

2009-09-05T22:02:00.003-05:00

Been a little lax in my run blogging so I'll try to get a little bit caught up here.

Today was the culmination of week one of our Three Weeks of Hell, as I'm calling it. This is the toughest period of our training program as we go with tough mid-week runs followed by 20/15/20 long-run weekends. Did 20 miles today in Rockford and, all in all, I was both pleased and surprised by my performance. Felt strong and fresh all the way to about 18 miles, with the last two somewhat of a slog.

I've mentioned before that I'm a much better runner when faced with a loop or point-to-point than I am with multiple out and backs or a finish where we might be challenged with adding on a few turns here and there to gain mileage. I like to know exactly where I'm going and when and where I'm going to finish. It helps with knowing how and when to push the pace and it helps in knowing that when I decide to kick it up at the end, I can do so at the right time.

Was feeling great all the way up to about 16, when we had to slightly alter our route to hit our last water stop. Did then and then had to estimate our ending point, which threw me off just a bit. Got back on pace just fine between 16 and 18, until the quad and foot soreness kicked in over the last two miles. No worries, though, as we still finished at consistent 9:45 pace, coming in at just under 3:20 for the 20 miles.

I'm feeling cautiously confident as we begin to see the end of the road, and the starting line in Chicago, on our horizon. Next week, we'll tackle 15 in Rockford, before heading to Chicago the following week for the CARA Ready to Run 20 Miler. More on that as we get closer.

Looking forward to this week's running and need to work back in to some cross training. As has happened before, when the long runs get longer and the fall busyness creeps back, it's been too easy to slack off on the cross training. Must fix that for the last month.

T-Minus 35 Days and Counting, Part 1. . .

2009-09-05T21:45:00.004-05:00

My recovery from last week's illness continued unabated during my 8-mile tempo run on Wednesday. Ran home from my work on the west side of Rockford to the east side. Did not have the GPS with me so I relied on the route that Jen had plotted for me. All in all, it went well, as I held steady at about 8:55 pace and scorched the last mile in 7:55, based on the already-measured mile from the Rock Valley College campus near our house. Felt great during the whole run, temps were good and had no foot or ankle issues.

T-Minus 40 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-31T21:18:00.003-05:00

It's been a crazy six days since I've posted. So, here is an Executive Summary for those with neither the time nor the energy to be bothered with the gory details. Herewith:

Worked out at the Northeast Y on Thursday morning due to the rain. Did 30 minutes on the bike and 1 hard mile on the treadmill.

Became seriously sick about four hours later with fever, chills, aches and great abdominal pain. Slept for nearly 16 hours straight, interrupted by bouts of GI distress.

Friday was much of the same, laying in bed not able to do much, along with consistent fluid loss. Very depressed as I knew I would have to miss the Madison Mini Marathon (13.1) on Saturday.

Illness finally broke mid-day on Saturday. Total weight loss was about 6 or 7 pounds.

Ran 5 miles easy on Sunday, with the last in 8:20. Confidence somewhat restored.

Tonight, did my 4 x 1600 intervals, all at sub 8-minute pace, with the last in a rip-stinging 7:35 at about 70 percent effort. Beginning to think that the whole fluid-loss, dehydration illness thing might have been a blessing in disguise. Confidence fully restored, as I haven't run so fast, so easily, all training season. What gives?

Getting ready for our 8-mile tempo run on Wednesday.

Cautiously optimistic about our 20-mile Tour of Rockford set for Saturday morning.

To My Son on His First Day of Kindergarten

2009-08-25T21:18:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, we left for the hospital around 8 p.m. and 12 hours later I was cutting the umbilical cord and listening to your first cry.

The other day, you pointed out to me that “bats are nocturnal, Dad. That means they sleep during the day and come out at night.”

Oh, how we’ve watched you grow. . .from chubby baby to confident little boy.

The intensity you have when lining up a corner kick during a soccer game.

The ease with which you tackled the skill of bike riding, not afraid to fall a few times, skin your knees and get right back on again.

How you stood in the corner crying on your first day of swim lessons and now are so excited to tell me how you touched the bottom in the deep end.

The protection and love you show to your little sister, always concerned with where she is and what she’s doing. The smiles you evoked in your teachers at the Rockford Health System Children’s Learning Center when hugging and kissing her goodbye each morning before you’d go off to your separate rooms.

Your ability to hide in the shadows at home and quietly scare the crap out of me, punctuating the incident with a mischievous little giggle.

How you’re always eager to show your affection anytime we’re parting ways; “Dad, I wanna give you a hug and a kiss.”

The seriousness with which you approach a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

The insistence, no matter how late it is, that you ask “Dad, will you tell me about my day,” a pleasant routine we share that started early on and shows no sign of letting up.

How often you seem to organize the group and calmly direct friends and cousins in how to play this game or start that activity, budding leadership skills that I hope will serve you well.

How proud I am as your father and how thrilled I am to watch you take your first small steps into the world of kindergarten.

No one knows what the future holds for you and that’s what makes this next stage in your life so exciting. If your first five years are any indication, you’re going to do great. I’m just fortunate to be on this path with you.

Have a great day, pal.

T-Minus 46 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-25T21:13:00.003-05:00

Rather uneventful day today as I tackled my 8 x 800s. Jen did hers later in the evening so I was flying solo. Had some sun and the temps were up a bit but it wasn't that much of a factor.

Surprised that I felt as good as I did after the tough 18 miles on Saturday. Find that mentally and physically these intervals are often tough coming off the weekend long runs. My body feels like a car that's been left outside on a cold winter day. Cranky to start and needing a long time to warm up.

Did about a quarter mile warmup on the riverfront path, stretched and jumped right into it. Stayed on sub-4 minute pace the entire set, with the fastest at 3:51 and the slowest a 3:58. Legs felt pretty good. No issues with the left ankle tendons and my right hamstring, usually about as tight as piano wire, caused me no problems.

Going to try to hit the bike tomorrow night, with the the 5-mile tempo run set for Thursday.

T-Minus 47 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-24T10:19:00.002-05:00

Exponential suffering. I’ve written about it before. In my experience, it’s the running condition whereby I can feel great after 10 miles and, suddenly, I hit mile 11 and feel like absolute crap. That’s one of the great physical and mental challenges of running.

Experienced this on Saturday during our 18 miler, our longest run of the training season so far. Temps were very cool and overall conditions were just about perfect. The first 10 miles went by fairly quickly and without incident. We held to a 9:45 pace and I was feeling good. Hit the 13 mile mark in 2:07, right where we needed to be.

Then things became a little tougher as the cumulative effect of the previous miles began taking hold. Quads started getting a bit sore and the tendinitis in my left foot that I’ve been battling lately started flaring up. Last two miles were a struggle but we maintained our pace and brought it in, slightly in pain, in 2:56.

I shouldn’t really be surprised at the quad soreness or the foot pain, I suppose. The pounding of that much mileage is bound to have an effect. It’s just frustrating when everything else seems to be feeling fine and I still have to deal with the muscle aches and pains.

This week we step back a bit and we’re set for 8 x 800 and then a 5-mile tempo run. We’ve been a little crazy with some kids’ activities lately and have not been hitting the cross training as much, which might be having an effect on the muscle soreness. I need to get in the pool or on the bike to try to alleviate some of that.

Saturday, we’re running in the Madison Mini-Marathon (13.1), which will be a nice change of pace. Our plan is to treat it as a training run so I don’t expect that we’ll be pushing it too hard or going for any PRs. We’ll just take the race as it comes and see what happens.

T-Minus 50 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-21T21:07:00.002-05:00

As Spike Lee once said, 'it's gotta be the shoes." Well, it must be something, because I ran a scorching 5K (3.1) last night in 25:45 as I squeezed in my tempo run before the rain came. Hit the first mile in 8:30 with little effort, sped up a bit in the flat part of the course and then came speeding home with a last mile in 7:55, including the last half mile uphill back to the house. Felt great nearly from start to finish. Those runs are particularly satisfying since the accomplishment is in the speed, as opposed to the "just happy to finish" feeling of some of our longer runs.

Speaking of longer runs, we're set for our longest of the training program, 18 miles, tomorrow and we're apparently going to be blessed with morning temps in the 50s and only low 70s for a high. Cautiously optimistic.

T-Minus 52 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-19T22:39:00.002-05:00

Been a little delayed in posting since Saturday's long run so I'll try to get back up to speed here:

Saturday's 13-mile run finally brought a bit of redemption. We did a modified out and back and I finished in 2:02:45, with a last mile in 8:40. Last two miles felt great after a bit of a struggle in the first half. Couldn't quite get my mojo working in the opening few miles as our group of five jockeyed around between 9:20 and 9:40 pace. Finally settled into a rhythm with about 5 to go and really stepped it up at the end.

Took a gel after 5 miles and then another at 10 and think that really helped after the debacle with the granola bar last weekend. Was well hydrated and the new Asics performed very well.

Took a few days off and got back into it today. Was forced inside because of rain and nailed a blistering 2-mile run on the Y track in 16:28, with a final mile in a scorching 7:43. Took little effort to hit that pace in the last mile and could have easily gone sub-7:30 if not faster. Did some upper body lifting afterwards and felt good.

More rain in the forecast for tomorrow so we'll see if we can get in either a 3-mile tempo or our 12 x 400 intervals. Avoided those on the track today because the tight turns on the Y track has played havoc with my hips and knees in the past and I typically limit my runs there to about 2 miles or so.

Feeling cautiously optimistic about our Saturday 18 miler, as the forecast is calling for temps in the 70s with low humidity.

T-Minus 57 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-14T20:49:00.002-05:00

Could have used little pre-run counseling on Wednesday as we geared up for our 10-mile tempo jaunt. Had had a bad day at work and was about as unmotivated as possible for a long run. I knew we had to do it, figured I'd feel better after it was done but just could not summon the will to want to do it.

Jen and I pushed off and the first few miles were just mental torture. Oh, my new shoes felt great but I was having iPod Shuffle issues and just didn't want to be out there. Finally got the Shuffle to work, which is no small feat while running, and my mood slowly started to improve. We were set to run 9:15 pace and we held right around that for most of the run. The black cloud seemed to lift with about 2.5 miles to go and I actually clocked the last mile in 8:40, which was surprising considering my mood.

Not sure what it was; maybe a bit of burnout, maybe a bad day at work, maybe the fact that we've had a couple of tough weeks of training. Whatever it was, it seems to have passed and I'm actually looking forward to tomorrow's 13 mile long run.

T-Minus 60 Days and Counting, Part 2. . .

2009-08-11T09:39:00.002-05:00

Sometimes a little bit of psychological redemption is good. So is a new pair of shoes. Experienced both on Monday during my 3 x 1600 interval workout.

Over the years, I’ve run mostly in Nikes, with one brief interval in a pair of Adidas. I’ve had a couple of bouts lately with some minor plantar fasciitis and was feeling that I wasn't getting enough arch support from the Nikes. So, after spending way too much time trying on shoes on Sunday, I settled on the Asics GT-2140. In the store, the feel was much different and the arch construction seemed to offer more support. How would they feel out on a run?

That question was answered after I cranked out the first 1600 interval on the riverfront path in a blistering 7:49. Followed that up with a 7:54 and a closing 7:53, all under the 7:55 pace called for in our training program. Support seemed better, arches felt good and cushioning seemed a step up from my old shoes.

With confidence restored in my running ability after last weekend’s debacle and confidence in a new pair of shoes, I’m cautiously optimistic about tomorrow’s 10-mile tempo run.

T-Minus 60 Days and Counting Part 1. . .

2009-08-11T09:34:00.002-05:00

Probably good that I’m updating the blog a few days after Saturday’s long run. It’s given me time to mentally come around and I feel much better now about how things went than I did for the two days afterwards.

I’d written last week that if I had a bad day with a good time, then it’s actually a good day. Well, Saturday’s planned 17-mile run was a cluster*** from start to finish and I struggled for two days after to find the good in it.

We’d planned to run early, about 6:30, to avoid the forecast of heat and humidity. Woke up around 5:30 to eat something and it was pouring rain. Figured we’d wait it out but it took nearly two hours for the rain to subside and we didn’t step off until about 7:40.

The humidity was high but the cloud cover made it tolerable at the start. With the skies still threatening rain, we altered our course and planned to do a few out-and-backs to get our mileage. Returned to our house after the first 7 miles and was feeling good. Ducked inside to change my sopping clothes and ate a granola bar; big mistake.

The break was too long and when I started again, I was sluggish and the granola bar wasn’t sitting well. Mary and Jen had left before me so I was chasing them down. The next few miles were a struggle, for some reason, but I finally caught up to them. The humidity was getting to them as well so we hit the 10-mile mark and decided to call it a day and head back.

In the end, we finished 12.3 miles in 1:59, coming up short nearly 5 miles. Ironically, our average time was 9:35/mile which was fairly strong, all things considered. Can't really figured out what went wrong to sap my energy. Had eaten oatmeal and an English muffin with peanut butter for breakfast and assumed that was plenty. Eating the granola bar may have been a mistake; need to stay with the gel. The long break certainly didn't help nor did the start/stop of getting up early and then waiting out the rain. Who knows what it was?

Shorting the mileage left me feeling aggravated all day long and into the next. I’m a little crazy like that; I like following the plan and finishing what we’re supposed to finish. In reality, coming up short a few miles in such high humidity and probably recovering better because of it will most likely pay benefits.

We’re set for 3 x 1600, 10 miles and then 13 miles this weekend.

T-Minus 66 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-05T21:14:00.003-05:00

One thought that has always gone through my mind in the four years we've trained for marathon is this: if I can suffer through a bad day and still end up with a fast time, then that bad day really can be considered a good day. Today was one of those days.

We took a rest day on Tuesday, after the tough intervals on Monday. According to our training program, we were set for a tempo run today of 8 miles at a pace of between 9 and 9:15 per mile. One problem: in my mind, I thought we had to do 8:55 miles. So, we cranked out the first 4 miles at about 9:05 and not only was I feeling like crap, I was frustrated at how slow I thought we were going. Felt sluggish and just didn't have the energy I usually have.

We'd left from our house, ran around the path at Rock Valley College and then cut over into a subdivision to head north. Crossed over Riverside and then hit another subdivision for a bit 'til we hit the 4-mile mark on the GPS.

Hit the turnaround in 36:30 and began the slog back home. As Jen will tell you, when I'm running I'm usually focused on two things; I like to suffer and I like to hit my times. So, I dialed it up quite a bit in the last three miles. With two to go, I was still feeling less than optimal but the end was near. Hit the last mile marker, looked at my time and realized I could bring it home with an easy 9 minute mile and still hit the average per mile time that I wanted.

Well, that would be too easy. So, I throttled up the suffering and cranked out the last mile in 8:15. And, I'm all the more happy with that last mile, considering it included a wicked uphill at Rock Valley that usually ticks my heart rate way up. Watched my pace on this and hit the crest feeling great.

Soooooo, after feeling like crap for nearly the entire run, I was able to bring it home in 1:11, for an average pace of 8:54. Jen pulled in just a couple minutes behind me and felt pretty good about her run as well.

By the way, if you talk to Jen, don't tell her that I misread the training paces. I like to suffer. She typically doesn't.

T-Minus 67 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-04T11:57:00.002-05:00

After last week's 5 x 1200 intervals, I was convinced that those were my least favorite intervals. I was wrong. That honor now goes to the 800, seven of which I ran last night. Had to alter the training plan a bit this week and, so, was hitting these on only about 52 hours of rest since the 15 miles on Saturday.

Temps and humidity picked up yesterday and that made for a bit of a challenge. Planned pace was 3:55 and I was pleased to knock them off in 3:57; 3:50; 3:53;3:56; 3:53; 3:54; and 3:51. Last two were tough, as the heart rate was up and the legs were feeling a little heavy.

Recovery was good. Ending pulse was 144 and it dropped to 112 within 60 seconds and 100 after two minutes. Been monitoring that more lately. Felt good the rest of the evening. We're now set for 8 miles at tempo pace (about 8:45 to 9) on Wednesday.

T-Minus 69 Days and Counting. . .

2009-08-02T22:55:00.004-05:00

You know, 15 miles is a long way to run. Felt good yesterday to get that one under our belts. Did a 15-mile loop course, the first non out-and-back we've done this year and I enjoyed the variety. Our luck with the temps continued as the morning dawned overcast and in the high 50s, perfect for running. We headed out from the Y to downtown and then turned north after we crossed the river.

Our course took us north for about 6 miles, to a quick Gatorade/gel break at Jen's work and then we pushed on for about two more miles before heading south on what is essentially the inward half of the Rockford Marathon's half-marathon course.

My run followed it's usual pattern. First two miles, "I feel like crap and there's no way I'm gonna do this today." That was followed by "Hey, we're five miles in and I'm feeling good but we still have 10 miles to go." Next came, "Wow, I can't believe how good I'm feeling right now at mile 11. Oh shit, we still have four to go?" And, finally, "Good God, we still have two miles to go? My legs are heavy, my feet and ankles hurt and I'm just getting really tired."

Cranked out the run in 2:21, with the last two miles clocking in at an absurd 18 minutes flat. I say absurd not because that's really fast but rather because it was done after 13 miles. Overall, I was happy with my run. Pace was about 9:25, putting us quite a bit faster than we hope to do the marathon. The last two miles, true to form lately, were the worst. That's OK, though, as it means the program continues to do what it should.

Tough week this week as we continue our step-up period. We lead off with 7 x 800, followed by an 8-mile tempo run and then 17 miles on Saturday. Sleep and diet will be critical. Been getting to bed a little too late recently and I've been feeling it later in the week. Diet and hydration will also play a role, as we have to make certain we're taking in enough fluids, and watching our carb/protein ratio to be fully-fueled.

T-Minus 72 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-30T21:02:00.002-05:00

After a light cross-training day on Wednesday with a quick warm up on the track followed by upper-body weights, I headed back out on the road today for the 5-mile tempo run. Turned out I had to do a little Zen running, after I left my watch at home. Headed out on the bike path to do 2 miles out and back after waiting out the rain with one mile on the track in 8:40.

Based on my turnover and respiratory rate, I think I was able keep up about the 8:45 pace I needed. Felt great during the whole run. Temps were fairly cool and the winds were light, making for a good run all the way around.

We're planning a point-to-point 15 miler for Saturday. Looking forward to that kind of route, for a change, as all of our long runs so far have been either loops or straight out and backs. Point-to-points can be a little easier, psychologically, in that every step you take gets you one step closer to the finish. As I've written before, at least 75 percent of this crazy training is mental and I need every advantage I can get.

T-Minus 74 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-28T21:38:00.002-05:00

Brutal. Fast. Suffering. Craziness. Uggh.

Those are just a few random thoughts from tonight's 5 x 1200 interval run on the riverfront path. Did them in 5:43, 5:45, 5:46, 5:53 and 5:42. Did about 60-90 seconds of run/walk in between and then polished off this buffet of pain with a 3:56 1/2 mile at the end.

These are the types of runs that try men's souls, and soles, I suppose. The first two were OK; I settled into a decent rhythm and the legs were fresh. However, by the end of the third, I was feeling some heaviness in my quads as the pace began to take its toll. This was apparent in my time in the fourth. The final interval was quick, spurred on by the fact that I was nearly done. Cooled off for a quarter and then ran the last half mile just to suffer some more.

It may seem counterintuitive that short intervals would be a key part of marathon training. However, they are important for a number of reasons. They train your body to get comfortable at a faster pace. They work your legs and cardiovascular system at a higher level. And, I think, they acclimate your body to suffering so that the longer runs, done at a slower pace, seem that much easier. Combined with our tempo runs, which in this program are between 3 and 10 miles at faster than race pace but not as fast as intervals, these runs are a perfect complement to the overall preparation.

We're set for 5 miles on Thursday as we gear up for 15 on Saturday.

T-Minus 75 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-27T22:40:00.002-05:00

Took a well-deserved rest day on Sunday and it paid off. The brief ice bath I took after the 14 miles on Saturday helped and I'm planning on repeating that process after the long runs. Think it helps lessen the swelling in the knees and feet and makes for a better recovery the next day. Didn't have the usual quad soreness on Sunday.

Hit the pool tonight for a little cardio cross training. Hadn't been in the water in several months and it felt like it. Did about 35 minutes of intervals and, after the initial warmup, started to get into a rhythm. Only did about 700 yards but it felt good to be back in the pool.

Set for 5 x 1200 intervals on the path tomorrow night as we begin another tough week.

T-Minus 77 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-25T21:34:00.002-05:00

Another perfect day for running as we pushed off for 14 miles this morning. Temps were probably high 60s at the start and maybe into the upper 70s by the finish. Though it was sunny, we weren't facing the humidity, which makes a huge difference. We cranked out the 14 in 2:14, with the last 4 miles at 9:15 pace. Overall, we did the run in 9:30 pace, exactly where we need to be at this point.

Did a slightly convoluted route involving 7 miles out and 7 miles back with two quick water stops in the middle. As I've noted before, this program is doing exactly what it's supposed to do as it steps us up in mileage and then steps us back to prepare for the next push. We're now in a step up period and I've been feeling fatigued in the last two miles of most of our long runs. However, because this program is so effective, that means today I was feeling it around miles 12-14, as opposed to several weeks ago when I was feeling it between 8 and 10.

Fatigue may be a strong word. My breathing is fine, as is my heart rate, in those last two miles. Where I'm feeling it is in my quads and my feet. To help ease the recovery, I took a 10 minute ice bath for the first time and I think it really helped. As I write this about 12 hours after we finished, I'm feeling pretty refreshed, with just a small blister on one toe and a sore toenail on another to remind me of the run. Looking forward to the rest day tomorrow.

T-Minus 79 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-23T20:12:00.003-05:00

What a short, strange run it was today. Arrived at the Y, with threatening skies overhead, right behind a firetruck racing into the parking lot. It stopped over by the riverfront and, front what we were able to see and hear, someone had fallen into the river. There was a small crowd of people around and the firefighters immediately began moving very quickly to the scrum. Haven't heard yet what actually happened but I hope it turned out OK.

We headed inside to change and by the time we were done the skies had erupted and there was a huge downpour underway. We did a easy warmup on the track to wait out the rain and, 10 minutes later, were back outside on the path, easing into our 5-mile tempo run.

Jen had battled some kind of abdominal pain this week so we started out fairly slowly just to help her ease back into things. Hit the 2.5 mile turnaround in 24:45, too slow for our tempo pace. We were both feeling great at the turn, good for Jen in light of not running all week, and we cranked it up in the second half. I took off with 2 miles to go and finished in 44:25, having pulled off the last two miles in a blistering 16:40. She finished about 1.5 minutes back and said she felt really good, all things considered.

All is right in the running world at the moment as we gear up for our 14 miles on Saturday. We'll hit the pasta tomorrow night and try to get some good sleep. Entering a tough period over the next several weeks as we begin stepping up the distances.

T-Minus 81 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-21T21:33:00.002-05:00

Recovered well from the 10 miles on Saturday and hit the road Sunday night for an easy 10 miles on the bike. Threw in a few hills to stretch things out but averaged about 15 mph for a good cross-training pace. Nothing taxing but a decent aerobic workout.

Back at the running today with 10 x 400 on the Y track, due to the rain. Hit them all at faster than pace, between 1:57 and 2:00 and even cranked out the last quarter in a solid 1:51. Hit the weight room for some lower body work afterward and felt strong the whole time.

With four solid weeks of marathon-specific training under my belt, I'm starting to see some progress. Cardio's up, strength is up, body fat has again dropped a bit and overall energy level during the runs is staying high. And, my heart rate is dropping quickly after workouts, another sign that the running-specific fitness is having an impact.

We're only one quarter of the way there but it's encouraging to see some early progress. As in the past, I know there's going to be rough days ahead. Days when I'm going to feel like crap. Runs where I'm just not going to have it. However, it nice to savor small bits of progress when you can and use them as stepping stones to the next level.

Have 5 miles at tempo pace on Thursday, as we gear up for Saturday's 14 miles.

T-Minus 84 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-18T22:23:00.002-05:00

Today was a great day for running and we put another 10 miles into the books. Skies were overcast, for the most part, and temps were in the low 60s. Stunning for mid July but I'll take it. I've mentioned to someone recently that when you're training for a marathon and pondering long weekend runs, a weird summer of cool temps really is not a problem. I know it's not the best for summer activities but I'll take 70s all the time with no complaints.

Felt great today from start to finish as I logged 10 miles in 1:34:30. The stunner was the final mile in 8:15. Just felt strong and decided to crank it during that last leg. These longer runs in cool temps are important because we're putting miles in without as much suffering right now. But, the miles that we are logging are going to be important when the heat comes and the suffering is going to be magnified. This coming week we step back up with 10 x 400, then 5 mile tempo, leading into Saturday's run of 14 miles.

T-Minus 86 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-16T22:14:00.002-05:00

After the tough 13-miler last Friday, we hit the road to Mackinac Island for some R & R. Did some easy biking while we were there, which was good recovery cross training after a difficult run.

Back at it yesterday and was pleasantly surprised to rip off a blazing 3 miles in 25:06, much faster than I expected. Had planned to just go easy after the layoff but after hitting the first mile in 8:40 with little effort, I just kept picking it up and the run really came to me. Temps were a little hot, which made it all the more surprising. In the end, I'll take it.

Did an easy 8:25 on the track tonight just to warm up for upper weights. Felt pretty good after being out of the weight room for more than a week. Finding more and more that some of these longer recovery periods are really beneficial, rather than detrimental. The extra rest really does seem to rejuvenate me and help me recover from the tough workouts. Going to try to do a few easy miles tomorrow in preparation for Saturday's 10 miles.

T-Minus 92 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-10T23:03:00.002-05:00

My speculation about heat playing a role in tonight's 13-mile run was correct. After a day of storms, the sun came out in mid afternoon and we were hit with 80s and some humidity as we pushed off around 6:15. First 8 miles felt great but a few hills and the cumulative effect of the heat really took its toll during the last 5. Quads were heavy and feet hurt a bit but we pressed on and finished in decent shape, if not at a fast pace. Based on my weigh in this morning, I lost about 5 pounds during the run. Crazy.

Couple days off now, as we hit the road to Mackinac Island. Have 3 x 1600 intervals next week, followed by 5 miles and then 10 on Saturday as we "step back" for a week in preparation to "step up" the following week.

T-Minus 94 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-08T21:31:00.002-05:00

After a day of rain that looked like it might wipe out our planned 7-mile jaunt, the skies cleared, temps were cool and we hit the road. Great thing too, 'cause I again had a little Kenyan thing going on tonight. Ripped through 7 miles in 62 minutes, clocking in around an 8:50 pace. Felt great and finished very strong.

One thing I'm noticing more and more is that I really don't start to feel comfortable now until about 2 or 3 miles into the run. Could be a little bit of an age thing; takes a while to get the engine warmed up and going at an optimal speed. Whatever it is, I've become more in touch with it and have better control now, knowing that it's going to take a while before I'm throttled up well and humming.

Day off tomorrow as we prepare for Friday night's 13 miles. Temps are supposed to heat up a bit so we'll see if that plays a role.

T-Minus 95 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-07T15:23:00.004-05:00

Tough day on Monday as we tackled 6 x 800 intervals at sub 4:00 pace. I was hitting them right around 4:03 to 4:05 and then finished with a 3:51 that was just a little insane. Temps were slightly warm but nothing too serious.

While I enjoy the variety of the intervals, they are the most difficult of our three running days. Heart rate's up much higher than normal and the short recovery between each magnifies the suffering factor. However, they build us up for the tempo runs and, both of which then make the long runs seem that much easier.

I've also noticed that a good warm up has been critical to some of my better runs this year. Rather than just a little stretching and then go, we've been running for a few minutes, then stretching, then heading off on the run. Seems to help jumpstart my internal engine better and lead to a better run.

Hit the upper body weights tonight at the northeast Y. Did a little warmup first and then got into it. Felt good, though a little bit sluggish. Need to keep consistent with the weight training this year. In past years, I've slipped away from it a bit as the longer runs got longer. However, keeping my upper and lower body is critical both in keeping my knees strong and in preventing overall wear and tear. Jen thinks I'm a bit obsessed. I think she's right.

T-Minus 96 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-06T10:29:00.002-05:00

Had a great 5 mile tempo run up in Wisconsin on Saturday. Thought the legs might be heavy after the 12-miler on Thursday but such was not the case. Temps were low 70s and a little humid but the cloud cover helped. We did a 2.5 mile out and back on some seriously rolling hills in Merrimac. Up and down we went but the pace was good.

On the way back, I suddenly felt a little Kenyan and took off from Jen and ripped through the last mile at a sub-9 minute pace. Felt great hitting it that fast after 4 miles of hills.

We're heading off on a road trip this weekend so we're altering the schedule a bit this week. Have 6 x 800 intervals tonight; 7 mile tempo on Wednesday and then a 13-miler scheduled for Friday night.

T-Minus 100 Days and Counting. . .

2009-07-02T12:25:00.002-05:00

It was an optimal day for running as we headed off on our 12-mile journey along the Rock River this morning. Parked at Cliffbreakers and did 3.5 to the Y, grabbed a quick shot of water and headed back. Took gel at 7 and then headed north for 2.5 and then the turnaround back to the car.

Legs were very heavy during the last two miles. Though, as I said to Jen, my legs felt heavy last week between miles 8 and 10. This week it was between 10 and 12. So, as we've seen before, this program works. Feels good to start getting into the longer runs and build up that mileage.

One final thought is this: every time we head out on these long runs, I seriously question whether I'm going to finish that day. Yet, inevitably, I do, despite feeling like crap during the first couple of miles or suffering through tired legs during the last. It's that psychological battle that makes this training so tough. You question your ability, but in the end it's just the simple matter of putting one foot in front of the other and doing it. I know I can do it. It's just a question of asking myself how badly I want to do it.

T-Minus 102 Days and Counting. . .

2009-06-30T23:29:00.003-05:00

Good day for running. It was low 60s tonight and cloudy. As I've said before to Jen on days like these; "if you can't run well on a day like today, you can't run well." Cranked out 4 x 1200 intervals on the riverfront path near the Y tonight at 6:10 pace, with the last at 5:55. Felt really good during all of them and didn't feel that sucking fatigue during the last one that I expected.

Legs were hurting during the first interval. Had hit the lower body weights a little too hard on Monday night and really felt it. Note to self; go easy on the weights on a night before a run. Dumb!

Going to hit the upper body on Wednesday and give the legs a chance to rest in advance of our 12 mile run on Thursday. We're altering the schedule a bit because of our holiday weekend trip to Wisconsin. We'll do our 5-mile tempo run up in Merrimac on Saturday.

T-Minus 103 Days and Counting. . .

2009-06-29T21:27:00.003-05:00

After a well-deserved day off on Sunday, following our 10-mile run Saturday, I came back pretty refreshed today. Did an easy mile on the track just to wake up the legs and then hit the upper and lower body weights fairly hard. Been trying to work more higher reps and lower weights to tone and go easy on the joints and it seems to be working.

We're set for 4 x 1200 repeats on Tuesday. While I enjoy the variety that running intervals brings, it's not easy running. The warm up is key, as you need to have your heart pumping fairly well before you launch into a 6-minute 1200. We'll typically jog in between repeats and then cool down with a final quarter or so. Weather's supposed to stay cool so can't complain. . . .

T-Minus 105 Days and Counting. . .

2009-06-27T19:40:00.003-05:00

It's been a good couple of days. Friday night, I did an easy mile warmup on the track at the Y and then hit the upper body weights pretty hard, holding off on the legs to save 'em for the long run on Saturday. Friday nights at the Y are great; it's always quiet and there's few people in the weight room.

Today, Jen and I did 10 miles with Mary, our good friend with whom we trained last year. We left from our house, went out about 3 miles, came back, grabbed some gel and Gatorade and did another 2 miles out and back. Temps were probably in the high 70s to low 80s but we did catch a break with lower humidity than we'd been having. Not good running conditions, by any means, but we'll have to get used to the heat again.

The run itself felt pretty good. I was a little sluggish for the first 3 miles, really felt great between 6 and 8 and then had heavy legs for the last two. This was the longest run I've had since the marathon last October and it felt good to hit double digits again. That will be my last reference to "that was the longest run since last October," since now every run will be. Nice.

Taking a rest day on Sunday and then will hit the weights again, or possibly swim, on Monday.

T-Minus 107 Days and Counting. . .

2009-06-25T08:49:00.003-05:00

Tuesday, we kicked off our official 16-week training program. We’re doing the FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) Marathon Training Program, which involves three days of running, two days of cross training and two days of rest. It’s a fantastic program that we first used back in 2007 and it’s left us much fresher between runs and less prone to burnout.

We do fast intervals on Tuesdays, tempo runs of up to 10 miles on Thursdays at faster than race pace and then long runs on Saturdays. We supplement that with cross training two other days. For us, that means biking, weight training and swimming.

Our first run was 8 x 400 meter intervals on Tuesday. In the grip of our first heat wave of the year, with temps in the upper 80s with massive humidity, it was tough.

Wednesday we did an easy warm up on the track at the Y followed by upper and lower body weights. Nothing too exciting and felt a little sluggish as well.

The Kickoff of 108 Days to the Finish Line

2009-06-24T16:16:00.002-05:00

Well, our 16-week Chicago Marathon training program kicked off yesterday and this year I’ve decided to do something different as we embark upon our quest for our fourth finisher’s medal. In the past, I’ve written long, post-race essays after the races. I detailed the drama of 2007’s heat wave, which you can read about HERE, or my knee injury and subsequent training hiatus and march across the finish line in 2008, which you can read about HERE.

Not this year. This year, I’m hoping for no drama. No major incidents. For once, I'd like an incident-free training and race experience.

So, I will attempt to blog every day and provide the training minutiae that details what it’s like to put your body, and mind, through 16 weeks of progressively longer training runs and everything that comes with it.

I’ll cover the miles, the soreness, the frustration, the boredom, the pain, the fun, the nutrition, the blisters, the chafing, the Gatorade, the camaraderie, the PowerGel and, I hope, the incredible feeling of crossing that finish line in Grant Park and enjoying the weight of a medal around your neck.

It’s 108 days to go until we toe the line in Chicago’s Grant Park with 45,000 other crazies at 7:30 a.m. on October 12.

I hope you’ll come along. . .

There Are These Things I Like

2009-04-12T11:15:00.006-05:00

We of Finnish and Norwegian descent can be a cynical lot, I suppose. So, inspired by a paragraph from this posting, I herewith offer up a brief list of things I like, in no particular order:

Playing chess with my Dad by e-mail. One move at a time.

Orbit Bubblemint gum.

Fountain Coke from McDonald’s on a hot summer day.

My end-of-the-day routine with my kids that usually begins with them asking me “Daddy, will you tell me about my day?”

Running.

Palace Shoes in downtown Rockford. A shoe sales and repair place run by a father and his two sons who never fail to remember my name, even though I’m only in the store a few times a year.

Endorphins.

Airplanes.

A Midwestern sunset.

The strong-willed personality of my daughter.

The 3,697 songs on my iPod.

V8. The drink, not the engine.

Airports.

Gemini Jets

The moonscape on the Arizona highway between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

Reading.

Writing.

Giada De Laurentiis. Whoa.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on the Food Network.

Local on the 8s (for those who know what this is, be proud).

The Wall Street Journal.

My wife. Whoa.

#14 with cheese from Jimmy John’s.

“Holy shit!” moments where I learn something really new.

Soccer.

Artists and musicians. They have skills I envy.

The Godfather I & II. Despite the fact that I’ve seen the movies at least a hundred times and could recite nearly any scene, they still grip me every time.

Pizza from Dino’s or Pizza Perfect (sadly, 750 miles away, in Pennsylvania).

Playing “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with my son.

Fighting the Maddening Comfort of Routine

2009-02-28T00:00:00.006-06:00

“I can't believe that we would lie in our graves
Wondering if we had spent our living days well
I can't believe that we would lie in our graves

Dreaming of things that we might have been”
Dave Matthews

Routine is good. It provides us predictability, structure and a certain semblance of control over our daily lives. We know where we have to be, most of the time, and we go there, do what we need to do and we’re done. It feels comforting when what you think is going to happen on that particular day actually happens like it’s supposed to happen. “Yup, I knew I had to do that today. I did it and it’s done.”

It’s the comfort we feel in the company of our family. In the familiar laughter of our children. In the warmth of our home on a cold winter’s night. Routine provides solace and centering in times of great despair. Times when the struggle is just too hard and we retreat into the sanctity of the familiar.

Routine is bad. It lulls us into a false sense of security. It makes us reluctant to branch out beyond our daily existence and try new things. It gives us a false belief that nothing exists beyond our little slice of the universe. It leads to closed thinking that often holds us back from trying something really different.

I fight this battle on a daily basis and I know others do too. There’s a part of me that enjoys my life, my job, my daily routines and feels just fine, thank you. The other part of me rages against the monotony. Tired of waging the same battles. Driving the same roads. Having the same arguments. Listening to the same people complain about the same problems. Fighting the good fight with little hope of affecting real change.

I’ll often tell my wife that I'm bored. Usually, I’m speaking metaphorically. It’s not that what I’m doing at that particular moment is making me bored. It’s just that what’s currently in my orbit is really not making life that exciting. Those who know me know that I’m the kind of person who needs a lot of carrots out there. Things around the bend to keep me moving toward tomorrow.

And that’s the challenge, the battle, really. To rage against the routine. To suck the most out of this life that we can. To find things in our lives that give us joy and excitement and pleasure and stimulation and challenge and meaning and exhilaration and a touch of danger and happiness and a feeling that we really are alive, damn it.

We. Really. Are. Alive.

It’s a battle we need to fight every day. . .

Wear Them with Pride

2009-01-30T21:23:00.002-06:00

So there I was. In a hurry. Trying to get something done and it happened. I tore one of my rubbers. Not sure how it happened. Was probably a little too rough with it and it just broke. Momentary panic ensued but somehow I was able to finish what I was doing and head into work.

I’ve been wearing rubbers for about six or seven years. When you get into a managerial position, rubbers are important. They offer protection and they keep a vital part of your professional appearance in better shape. In this part of the country, during this time of year, it’s really important to wear them. You just never know what you might come in contact with.

Am I embarrassed about wearing rubbers? Sometimes. Co-workers have made fun of me. Friends have laughed at me. They’ve said that it’s better to just go without and take your chances. Even my wife has given me a raised eyebrow. In the end, though, she understands why I wear them.

In spite of the ribbing I’ve taken, I’ve been in a lot of meetings recently where other men are wearing their rubbers. Right out in public. If it works for them, it certainly should work for me.

So there it is. Men, wear your rubbers. Wear them regularly and wear them with pride. They’re affordable and they really help protect your. . . shoes.

Wait. What? Go back and reread this entire piece again. I was writing about shoe covers. What did you think I was writing about?

Raised on Radio

2009-01-19T15:16:00.004-06:00

About a month ago, we were driving around town with National Public Radio on. The familiar introduction to the news began and from the back seat I heard Alex finish it with “From NPR news. . . in Washington.” “Ahh,” I thought, smiling, “another convert to intelligent radio.”

You see, I am a child of NPR. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I can remember wiping the sleep out of my eyes while the sounds of “Morning Edition” emanated from the kitchen. In the evening, my parents would prepare dinner to the sounds of “All Things Considered.” I never understood “Prairie Home Companion,” and still don’t to this day, but they were sure into it. Today, we listen to the morning and evening news, along with the world music of “Echoes”at night and, if I’m really up late, the BBC World Service.

Most importantly, about 10 years ago, I hooked Jen on it and now she’s what I call an “NPR Hound.” We often find ourselves starting a conversation with “NPR had this story on. . .”

And, we put a little money where our ears are as members of our local NPR and we’re happy to write that check every year. It’s a particularly well-run and active local station through Northern Illinois University and they do great work.

Oh, sure, NPR’s coverage of the Middle East seems a little over the top and they often run pieces on topics that are so obscure they defy the conventional wisdom. However, that’s what makes it fresh, interesting and educational. I always learn something after listening for a bit. Despite its success, NPR has been hit by the tough economy and recently laid off a number of people in their national organization.

However, I’m confident it will survive. And, with what seems to be the general dumbing down of America, it’s critical that it does.

Gastronomic Nostalgia

2008-12-23T10:01:00.002-06:00

We all remember certain favorite foods from our childhood. For me, growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania, some of my favorites were pizza from either Dino’s Pizza or Pizza Perfect and unique sweet pastries from a company called TastyKake.

I took a solo road trip back to the homeland last May for my first visit in more than 20 years and was able to enjoy all three treats from my youth. After I returned home, I was a little disappointed to think that it might be years before I sampled my favorites again.

Sadly, no one has yet to find a way to ship a hot pizza from 750 miles away. And, surprisingly, Jen thought it was a bad idea for me to drive that far to get a pizza.

“But they both make damn good pizza!”

“No.”

So Dino’s and Pizza Perfect were out.

Butterscotch Krimpets. KandyKakes. Chocolate Juniors. As far as I know, TastyKake sells its product in stores only on the East Coast. I heard a rumor a few years ago that you could buy their product at Jewel supermarkets in Chicagoland but couldn’t ever find any.

And then, one day early this fall, it hit me. The Internet. Maybe TastyKake sells its stuff online. No. That would be too convenient.

I found the TastyKake Web site. And there it was. The magical “Shop Online” button. As a big surprise, I first ordered a variety case for my sister that included a t-shirt and had it shipped directly to her house. She was clearly pumped when she called me to say she’d received it and I was happy to help take her back to her youth.

I finally ordered a case for myself last week. It arrived yesterday and I baptized Jen into the church of the holy TastyKake. The kids will get to enjoy some today.

It’s times like these that I wonder how we ever got along without the Internet. Now, if someone would just figure out a way to ship me a hot pizza from Pennsylvania, life would be perfect.

Restaurant Soft Drink Scam-O-Rama

2008-12-22T14:07:00.003-06:00

There we were Saturday night. Out for with some friends at a new Asian grill place. The waiter asked if we wanted drinks and my friend asked how much the pop was, which, as we know, is never listed on the menu. $2.29.

And, then it hit me. $2.29 for a pop (or soda, as they call it on the East Coast). Even with unlimited refills, I’d have to sit there half the night guzzling Coke to make it financially viable. Why this was such a realization at that moment, I don’t know. Maybe because when I doubled it if Jen were to order a pop, we were talking $4.58. Crazy. When I can buy a 12-pack for $3.50 or less at my local Target, it’s not hard to make that decision.

So, I ordered water and resolved, right then and there, that I was done ordering pop in restaurants. That’s it. Done. Finished. Not anymore. Just can’t justify that kind of expense.

Buying pop in a restaurant is one of the biggest ripoffs on the planet and it’s getting worse. Markup on pop is astronomical, as restaurants struggle to maintain decent margins in a plunging economy. But, $2.29? Umm, I think they’ve crossed the line.

I’m not a big pop drinker anyway so it’s not like this is that much of a sacrifice. So, from now on, it’s water with restaurant meals and an occasional fountain Coke from the local Quik-E-Mart when I’m really parched.

Mumbling in a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-11T10:39:00.006-06:00

It’s been a bit of a mental snowstorm for me lately. So, here are a few random piles of snow and slush from the Mumbler’s driveway as I get ready for 2009.

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First of all, in honor of Illinois Gov. Rod Bjagojevich, I would like to offer this blog up to the highest bidder. For a minimum bid of $50,000, I will write about nothing but you and will do so in glowing terms.

I’m so proud to be an Illinois resident right now. Someone suggested to me that maybe our next Governor should start in prison and then have to work their way out, instead of our current system. It’s really not a bad idea.

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I can’t remember any time in my 30-something years of existence that Christmas was not all about shopping. I’ve fought against it for the last couple of years and we’ve really dialed back the gift-giving and gift-getting frenzy on both sides of our family. However, when it seems that “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” are covered with more journalistic ferocity than the Iraq War, you know something’s wrong. A worker getting trampled to death at a Wal-Mart in Long Island didn’t exactly hurt my argument either.

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If you call me and don’t leave a voice mail, it doesn’t count. Really.

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I’ve survived another year without a Blackberry or similar device. Surprisingly, I was able to do my job effectively, maintain relationships with friends and family and still function. Watching many of my colleagues with the device, I’ve developed a new term:

The Blackberry Lean. This occurs when someone in a meeting leans back slightly to check their Blackberry in their lap, hoping that no one will notice. News flash: it’s much more obvious than they think and quite annoying.

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Really torn on the proposed bailout of the American auto industry. On the one hand, I realize the impact that a bankruptcy by one or more of the Big Three would have on the overall economy, including ours locally, and the downstream industries that would be hurt. On the other hand, the situation they find themselves in was entirely avoidable, had they had some foresight to develop higher-quality, more fuel-efficient cars and not count on cheap gas forever. Come to think of it, they could have paid me far less to run those companies into the ground than the multi-million salaries the current CEOs are earning.

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Newspapers and magazines continue to struggle under both the weight of the faltering economy and the Internet onslaught. However, as media companies shed jobs and reduce the size of their printed products, I keep coming back to one thought as it relates to print versions: if, let’s say, The New Yorker writes a great 9,000 word profile on someone that I really want to read, I just don’t see myself curling up to my computer to read it or printing it out on 20 sheets of laser printer paper. I certainly feed my media junkie habit online but I still like the feel of the newsprint in my hands. Old school meets new school.

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Speaking of school, I finished up another semester of grad school and it feels nice to be at the front end of a five-week break until next semester. Between that and some major work on a winning political campaign this fall, I was really burning the candle at three ends. Among the important projects I’ll be taking on during my hiatus will be a viewing of all 21 James Bond movies on DVD that I own. I’m calling it my Vacation Bond-A-Thon. You may join my wife in rolling your eyes. While you’re doing that, I’ll be polishing my Walther PPK and enjoying a vodka martini, shaken, not stirred.

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Finally, I hope this blog finds you happy, healthy and ready to celebrate the end of one year and move forward to a new one. Team Wuori has had a productive year and we're extremely thankful to be blessed with family and friends that make our lives fun and interesting.

Whither God and Politics?

2008-11-19T13:18:00.003-06:00

I’m a staunch Democrat but I like to read conservative columnists and I watch Fox News. My fellow left-wing friends and family don’t seem to get this. One of my closest friends even walked out of my house after the second McCain-Obama debate because I was watching the analysis on Fox News and it was driving him nuts.

I do it partly because I’m a glutton for punishment but also because I want to know what the other side is doing and saying. And, because I learn more from people who don’t share my views and because it’s important, as Sun-tzu wrote, to “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”

So, there. That’s my preamble and justification for including the column below. Much is being written these days about the role of religion in politics. The right-wing evangelicals have held sway in the Republican party for a number of years and injected religion into so many issues where it doesn’t belong, in my opinion.

However, with the absolute shellacking of McCain by Obama, and the now leaderless ship that the GOP has become, some are questioning who’s really in charge of the Right. I, and other Democrats, are no doubt enjoying watching the GOP flailing about as I think they are on the wrong side of many issues these days. However, we need to keep up on what they’re doing and thinking and that’s why I pay attention.

This is, therefore, a great column from syndicated conservative columnist Kathleen Parker addressing some of these issues as it relates to God and the GOP. You can read it below or link to the original column here. I have more to say on this issue but that's for another day. Enjoy this read.

Giving Up on God

By Kathleen Parker, Washington Post
Wednesday, November 19, 2008

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type.

To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that.

The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it. But they need those votes!

So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

Short break as writer ties blindfold and smokes her last cigarette.

Which is to say, the GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.

Here's the deal, 'pubbies: Howard Dean was right.

It isn't that culture doesn't matter. It does. But preaching to the choir produces no converts. And shifting demographics suggest that the Republican Party -- and conservatism with it -- eventually will die out unless religion is returned to the privacy of one's heart where it belongs.
Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they've had something to do with the GOP's erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University's Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

Suffice it to say, the Republican Party is largely comprised of white, married Christians. Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can't have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting.

With the exception of Miss Alaska, of course. Even Sarah Palin has blamed Bush policies for the GOP loss. She's not entirely wrong, but she's also part of the problem. Her recent conjecture about whether to run for president in 2012 (does anyone really doubt she will?) speaks for itself:
"I'm like, okay, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is.... And if there is an open door in (20)12 or four years later, and if it's something that is going to be good for my family, for my state, for my nation, an opportunity for me, then I'll plow through that door."

Let's do pray that God shows Alaska's governor the door.

Meanwhile, it isn't necessary to evict the Creator from the public square, surrender Judeo-Christian values or diminish the value of faith in America. Belief in something greater than oneself has much to recommend it, including most of the world's architectural treasures, our universities and even our founding documents.

But, like it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian. The change Barack Obama promised has already occurred, which is why he won.

Among Jewish voters, 78 percent went for Obama. Sixty-six percent of under-30 voters did likewise. Forty-five percent of voters ages 18-29 are Democrats compared to just 26 percent Republican; in 2000, party affiliation was split almost evenly.

The young will get older, of course. Most eventually will marry, and some will become their parents. But nonwhites won't get whiter. And the nonreligious won't get religion through external conversion. It doesn't work that way.

Given those facts, the future of the GOP looks dim and dimmer if it stays the present course. Either the Republican Party needs a new base -- or the nation may need a new party.

A Great Day in America

2008-11-06T09:26:00.003-06:00

Photo: Chicago Tribune

There's really not much to say about November 4 that has not already been written or said. I was an early supporter of Barack Obama, believing that he was a new kind of candidate who could bring real change to our country and our world. Like my fellow supporters, we suffered through the bruising primary, not really thinking that he could defeat Hillary and others until it actually happened.

Things got ugly for a while, both in the primary and the general campaign. Still, we didn't waver. We watched as McCain got the short-lived Palin bounce and briefly took the lead in the polls. We remained calm, cool and supportive. Sending in our small donations. Making the case to our family and friends. Hoping against hope that America would make a real change in leadership.

Now that it's happened, it's almost hard to believe. Did he really win? Could this have happened in my lifetime? Yes, it did. We're savoring the moment and enjoying the victory and beginning to wonder how it's going to be on January 20 when a new era in America begins.

Back in the fall of 2007, I took a graduate class in rhetoric and, for my research paper, did a close textual analysis of Sen. Obama's 2004 keynote address in Boston at the Democratic National Convention. The speech was 2,166 words that launched him to national prominence overnight.

When I wrote the paper, Sen. Obama had announced his candidacy for President in February of that year and was deep into the campaign. Still, at that point, he was a longshot at best. This was my closing paragraph to that paper and when I wrote it, I really didn't think he'd ever actually win.

"He was quoted often as saying he had no interest in running, but eventually the expectations and the political environment made his running an almost foregone conclusion. Now, it seems clear that by hitting a rhetorical homerun that evening in 2004 in Boston, he carved out a path that, as of this writing, may eventually lead straight to the White House."

It’s a Beautiful Day. Let’s Run 26.2.

2008-10-15T09:41:00.008-05:00

I guess you don’t really know what you can do unless you try.

Jen and I had been training this summer for what would be our third Chicago Marathon when I developed some bad knee pain in early August. I figured I’d take a week or so off and it would get better and my training would go on. Well, one week led to two and then three and it was apparent that I wasn’t getting better.

Went to see the orthopedic surgeon who said “you’ve got Runner’s Knee. Do some PT and stay off it for a while.” So, I mentally put Chicago out of my mind, fought off a mild case of runner’s depression and began cross-training like a maniac with swimming and cycling. Hell hath no fury like a runner denied. . .

Well, about two weeks ago, after six weeks of no running at all, I gingerly went for a ½ mile run and had no pain. Two days later, I did 1 mile. A few days after that, two miles. Still, I was harboring absolutely NO illusions about running the marathon this year and was already thinking about next year. And, I was getting excited for Jen and helping her focus on her goal of going sub-4:30.

As the days counted down, we decided that on the day of the race I’d take the Red Line down to Chinatown and jump on the course with her with about four miles to go and run with her for the final stretch. Seemed like a plan.

Jen and I headed into Chicago on Friday for the Fitness Expo at McCormick Place where you pick up your packet and experience the dozens of very cool running-related booths with all kinds of stores and vendors selling everything running. It’s like a crack house for runners.

Well, being surrounded by all that running mojo forced me to change my tune. Why don’t I just start the race with Jen and see how far I can go? They have runner drop out shuttles at every aid station to take people back to Grant Park. They’ll be no shame if I can only do a few miles and then call it a day. Seemed like a new plan.

The day dawned cooler than the 2007 humidity-laden trainwreck of the Chicago Marathon. However, the forecast was still calling for sun and temps in the high 70s to low 80s. We started the race and I felt great. We clicked off the first couple of miles at 10-minute pace, right on Jen’s target to break 4:30.

Chicago’s course plays a cruel trick on runners in that the first four or five miles take place inside the skyscraper canyons of LaSalle and State Streets. These are very narrow streets where the roars of the spectators give you a palpable chill down your spine. It’s also very shaded, thanks to those buildings, and it’s hard to remember, at that point, that the sun will soon become a factor.

Right before mile 4, I jumped off the course near an aid station to use the Port-O-Potty and told her to keep on going. That was the last I saw of her. She would finish in 4:28, beating her 4:30 goal by two minutes. She’s a machine.

No big deal. I just kept running and was clicking off 10-minute miles. Five miles passed, then six, then seven. We had been out on Cannon Drive, now in the sun, for a while and I was still feeling really good.

At one point, I thought, “wouldn’t this be a great story? Hardly any running for about 8 weeks and then I finished it anyway.” Then, reality set in and I realized that I still had about 19 miles to go.

Suffering for runners is exponential. If you’re feeling good at mile six, it’s entirely conceivable that you can feel crappy at mile seven, thanks to the cumulative effect of those first six miles. So, I told myself, “just take it one mile at a time and see what happens.”

So, I passed through Broadway and Clark and then continued the journey south on Wells for two miles. Still felt good. No knee pain, heart rate dialed in well and 10- minute mile pace holding steady.

Mile 12 is one of my favorite parts of the course. You turn right and pass under the El tracks and then make a quick left on to the Franklin Street bridge over the river. There’s a ton of people on the corner and it helps you get your tired legs over the bridge.

I crossed the 13.1 mile mark at 2:15, still right around 10-minute pace. Though I was stunned to have even made it this far, things began to get a little more difficult around the 14-mile mark. A blister had been developing on one of my toes and I stopped very quickly at the aid tent, put a Band-Aid on it and went on my way, feeling much better. At this point, I began to have a few more little thoughts about actually finishing.

Two miles on Adams heading west toward mile 15 was a little tougher. The fatigue was setting in a bit, I was down to my last PowerGel and the heat was climbing.

I think miles 15 to 20 are the most difficult in a marathon. You hit 15 and you feel like you’ve accomplished something, until you do the math and realize you have 11 to go. This time was no different. We turned back east on Jackson and I took my last PowerGel for a little boost, hoping it would get me to mile 18, where the PowerGel Zone would have more gel packets.

I grabbed four gels right before mile 18 and kept digging. I took a gel immediately, walked a bit, got some water and was feeling better. That didn’t last. The lack of miles in my legs from not running was catching up to me at this point and my quads were feeling heavy. I kept picking out landmarks, would run to them, stop a bit, and then keep going.

Mile 20 was a relief, to be honest, and I was even surprised to see my time at that point. Finishing was now a viable option and I even began to see a way to break five hours, which was not bad, all things considered.

Shuffled through miles 22 and 23, passing a fully-dressed Elvis in the process, who looked very hot in his polyester jumpsuit. “Just get to South Michigan Ave.,” I kept thinking, “and you’ll be in the homestretch.”

South Michigan Ave. came upon me quicker than I’d expected and that’s when it really dawned on me that I was going to finish. The corner of Michigan Ave. and Roosevelt Road is holy ground for those of us who have run Chicago. It’s packed with people and it’s when you really feel like you’re nearing the end of a long day. From Michigan, you make a right turn on to Roosevelt, and run up a very nasty hill, really the only significant one on the course, then you turn left at the crest and head down the last 200 meters to the finish.

I hit that corner and was just overcome with emotion. Not so much because of the physical effort but for the psychological surprise of pulling it off. I crossed the line in a daze, mouthing “Holy s***” over and over. Looked at my watch and smiled at the 4:53:08.

Two days later, my legs are shot. My biceps hurt. My toes are very tender. I’m sunburned. And, I’m feeling great.

What did it? Was it the man I saw around mile 13 running with an artificial leg? Was it the woman in a pink shirt with the words “20-year survivor” written in Sharpie who I passed around mile 14, causing me to think, “I have no excuse not to finish this.”

Was it my good friend, a cancer survivor, who’s faced the toughest test of all this year overcoming a terrible disease which makes most of our everyday struggles look pedestrian? Was it my sister, who faced some phenomenal challenges this summer and overcame them to bring a beautiful baby girl into the world?

It was all of that. I drew on all of those things for inspiration and crossed the line knowing I was being pushed by something beyond me. I’m under no illusions that running a marathon is the hardest thing to do in the world. It’s not.

What I do know is that many of us seek challenges that make us suffer physically and mentally, that make us really reach down into the depths of our souls and ask ourselves “how bad do I want this?” How much can I take? And, we do it because it makes facing other challenges that much easier.

Most marathoners will echo that thought. “If I can run a marathon,” we think, “I can do anything.”

The suffering is addicting. The accomplishment is lasting.

And, oh yeah, it’s only 362 days until the 2009 Chicago Marathon. . .

This I Believe

2008-04-16T21:49:00.003-05:00

I believe these are in no particular order.

I believe a woman should control her own body.

I believe that our government has a fundamental responsibility to care for its most at-risk citizens, whether that’s through Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security.

I believe that the vast majority of people who benefit from those programs do so legitimately.

I believe health care is a fundamental human right and should not be denied to anyone based on an inability to pay.

I believe that too many people are more willing to spend their money on car repairs than they are on their own health care.

I believe in a strong military. There are bad people in the world who do bad things and they should be stopped.

I believe that the death penalty is ineffective, does not deter crime and is barbaric when practiced in the most advanced civilization in the history of the world.

I believe same-sex marriage is fine.

I believe that most people who are so upset about same-sex marriage should probably spend a little more time working on their own marriage.

I believe that a lot more happened on September 11, 2001, than we think.

I believe the government has used every day since September 11, 2001, to slowly erode our civil liberties and make us irrationally frightened.

I believe when given a choice between my civil liberties and a reduced risk of terrorism, I’ll take my civil liberties.

I believe not nearly enough Americans are concerned about that.

I believe that you can question your government and still love your country and be called a patriot.

I believe the phrase,”War on Terror,” is a linguistic device designed to keep Americans living in a constant state of fear.

I believe that’s precisely why the Bush Administration dubbed it the War on Terror.

I believe the War on Terror can never be “won” in the true sense of the word.

I believe that as long as humans exist, there will be terrorists.

I believe it’s been a long eight years.

I believe Barack Obama is the only candidate who can really change the way we do things in this country.

I believe I want a President to inspire me and move me to action.

I believe that too many people let their wants win out over their needs.

I believe that if you think you can’t afford it, you can’t afford it.

I believe that most professional athletes, CEOs and hedge fund managers are overpaid.

I believe that most police officers, firefighters, teachers and those in the military are underpaid.

I believe that most Americans don’t appreciate their right to vote.

I believe if they did we would have better people running for office.

I believe I’ve never seen American Idol, Survivor or Desperate Housewives.

I believe I’m doing just fine in spite of that.

I believe that too many parents don't take their responsibilities seriously enough.

I believe no one has ever regretted spending too much time with their children.

I believe you will never find an XBox, Wii, PlayStation or other video game system in our home.

I believe our children will turn out just fine in spite of that.

I believe you can never read too many books.

I believe we should all get outside more.

I believe in the runner’s high.

I believe in my wife’s laugh, my son’s smile and my daughter’s pig tails.

I believe that’s enough for now. . .

200,000 and Counting

2008-04-01T20:48:00.003-05:00

Sometimes you have to celebrate the little things, too.

On my way to class last night, at about 4:48 p.m., C.S.T., on Illinois Route 38, our 1995 Honda Civic reached 200,000 miles. I noted the occasion by pulling off on a side road and taking the photo above. It takes some anal retentiveness, and a lot of preventative maintenance, to keep a car this long, so here’s what it took to get the Civic to that big day:

48 oil changes

4 sets of tires

2 timing belt/water pump replacements

4 brake jobs

5 valve adjustments

1 new radiator

6 sets of spark plugs

3 mufflers

3 stereos

A still-original clutch

And, approximately 5,715 gallons of gas (at 35 mpg)

Am I asking too much to think Alex or Kristen could drive this car someday?

Probably.

On the other hand, it is a Honda. . .

This Is NOT My New Car

2008-03-24T11:11:00.002-05:00

"What's it going to take to get you into this car today?"

Cars are a societal barometer for success and I can’t figure out why. Driving around lately I’ve been paying close attention to the people behind the wheel of cars. What do they do? How does SHE afford THAT? Why did that woman feel it necessary to have a license plate that says “PEGS BMW” on it? I’ve yet to see someone with a plate that says “BOBS CHVY.”

Incredibly superficial judgments. And, that’s my point. The car you drive should have nothing to do with the level of success you’ve achieved. But, it does. And, why is that?

Sam Walton drove an old red pickup. Most of us have read that and, of course, he died a billionaire. On the other hand, I also read once that more than 70 percent of all Lexus cars (I don’t know how to write the plural of Lexus. Lexee? Lexi?) are leased. For the life of me, I can’t find a source but I ran across it in a trade journal a few years ago. My point on that is that a lot of us could probably afford a $399 per month Lexus lease that would allow us to drive a nice status symbol and announce to the world that “Hey, I’m successful. I’m driving a Lexus.”

It seems our cars have become mobile billboards for how well we’re doing, yet it’s horribly inaccurate in light of most statistical information on the economy. “Look at me, I’m driving a Lexus!” someone shouts. And, in a whisper, the same person should be saying “I’m also leveraged to the eyeballs and my mortgage is about to reset!”

We drive a 12-year-old Honda Civic with 199,000 miles. My goal for the last several years has been to get that thing to 200K and it looks like we’re going to make it. I’ve been anal retentive with the maintenance, have an incredible mechanic who has no problem telling me “you don’t need that fixed quite yet” and I’ve treated the car well, hence its long life.

Our other car is a six-year-old Nissan Pathfinder with only 55,000 miles on it. It’s a gas-guzzling SUV that was purchased when fuel was at least $1.50 cheaper than it is now. It’s functional for the size and activity level of our family. It’s paid for. We use it for travel, not for running errands down the street, and I make no apologies for it. We knew what we were getting into when we bought it and we plan to drive it into the ground.

Why is it, then, that I feel so much “better” sometimes, when I drive around in the Nissan than the Honda? I don’t feel like someone is looking at the rust spots thinking “nice beater.” I feel like, yeah, my dress shirt and power tie match the PF a little better than the Civic. But, then, there are days when I like the mixed message that I’m sending. “Hey, I’m gainfully employed, yet I’m still driving this ‘beater.’”

It’s crazy, I guess. Another one of those things about our society that I just don’t understand.

Surfing is Hard

2008-03-06T00:13:00.003-06:00

We really do. . .

Day 2 of our surfing safari dawned bright and beautiful and we headed down to the beach at Huntington, er, Beach, to find a place to learn how to surf. Found Zach's Surf Shop and had a great lesson from a very cool guy named Chris.

Let me tell you that I've gained a lot more respect for people like Laird Hamilton and other big-wave surfers who make it look incredibly easy. Had expected it to be tough and, big surprise, it was.

To begin, we pulled on our wetsuits, necessary in the 58-degree water, and headed down to the water for our lesson. Began with a little work on the sand, learning how to hop up from your stomach to a standing position. Oh sure, it worked great on land. Sadly, it's a different story once you're on your stomach riding a wave.

It's exhausting, difficult, exhilarating, frustrating, wet, salty, exciting and tranquil, all at the same time. Jen and I were both able to "get up" a couple of times for a short second or two, before eating the Pacific. After the hour of instruction, our teacher left us with good wishes and headed back up, while we took a break.

We rested for a while and then got back at it. About 10 minutes into our second session, I took a major, Greg Brady-style, wipeout that left me shaken and stirred at the same time. I came off the board face first, churned by the wave behind me, and then got slammed by a wave breaking from the side at the same time. Went down once, came back up, gulped air before being slammed down again, and then went down again. At this point, I raised up my hand, hoping Jen had seen me, as I prepared to go down again. Popped up this time instead, not too much worse for the wear, but feeling a little trashed.

Despite all that, it was a great experience and I think we're going to hit it again on Friday. We'll most likely try Newport Beach after we got a tip that it might be a little easier wave than what we found at Huntington Beach. All in all, we're sunburned, a little sore, but feeling pretty cool that we've tried something new that we've wanted to do for a long while.

On Friday, I'll make sure I'm not wearing that tiki idol that I found at the construction site. . .

California Dreaming

2008-03-04T23:40:00.004-06:00

Only in California. . .

Actually, it's not a dream. We're here. Day 1 of Surfing Safari 2008. Jen and I have ventured to California to try out surfing. Been on our To Do list for a long time and we finally pulled the trigger on the plan about six weeks ago when we realized that it'd been about a year since we'd been anywhere of significance.

Good flight out of ORD today, though we had a bit of an incident in midair. About halfway into the 4.5 hour flight, there was a little commotion up near the front of the coach section. Woman had passed out, apparently, and the flight attendants had mobilized, asked on the intercom if there was a doctor on board, which there was, and attempted to help the lady. Calm was restored fairly quickly and the rest of the flight passed without incident. The captain even dipped the wing of our Boeing 757 to give the passengers a better view as we passed over the Grand Canyon.

While it's not exactly the warmest time to be in Cali, temps are in the high 60s to low 70s, it beats the hell out of the Midwest, which is still firmly locked into winter. We're staying in Huntington Beach, which has some fairly good surfing, we've found out, though it's not the high season for that activity. But, we're going to give it a whirl tomorrow and see what we can learn. This is Jen's first trip to the land of the Governator, my fourth, and it's nice for us to be able to get away for a while, if only for a few days.

Baby Coming

2008-02-29T22:01:00.002-06:00

No, not for us. :)

My sister recently announced that she’s pregnant. For her and her husband, it was the culmination of nearly three years of trying. She told me over the phone a number of weeks ago, necessitated by our most recent family gathering being a little too early and our next visit being a little too late. I was smiling like an idiot and, truth be told, a little teary eyed at the same time.

Since the news broke, it’s been a nice emotional exercise for me just to think about the coming baby when my mood isn’t the greatest. When I’m cranky. Pissed off at work. Hands full with my own kids. It just takes a moment for me to think “ahhh, Claire’s pregnant” and my emotional barometer seems to reset.

She and her husband are going to make wonderful parents. They’ve watched our kids numerous times over the last four years and they have an inate ability to make both of them laugh, especially four-year old Alex. When Alex spent a weekend alone with them when he was about 2 ½ and came home with the phrase “What up dog?” firmly embedded in his vocabulary, thanks to crazy Uncle Tom, I knew he was in good hands.

Both Claire and Tom have wonderful personalities, a lot of zest for living and lots of love to give. This coming baby, boy or girl, is going to be a lucky child. . .

Our Hearts Are with the Huskies

2008-02-15T14:54:00.005-06:00

Unless you're in outer space or a cave, you've no doubt heard what transpired yesterday at Northern Illinois University. No need to summarize it here as the news is all over the Web.

The shootings have impacted me in a couple of ways. First of all, I'm currently a graduate student in the communication program at NIU and walk by Cole Hall all the time. It' s right near Reavis and Du Sable Halls, where the journalism and communcation classes are held.

Secondly, the hospital in Rockford where I work is treating one of the victims, who arrived by helicopter last night right before 8 p.m. So, it was a crazy night and early morning dealing with media calls from across the country. The amount of misinformation that flows during a situation like this is readily apparent when you are personally involved in it. Fortunately, our patient is doing well. It's been a challenge, though, to protect his privacy from the prying eyes of the media.

Dealing with the situation on a professional level meant that it wasn't really until this morning that what had happened yesterday really hit me on a personal level. My family has a long history and relationship with NIU and DeKalb. My father has an undergraduate degree from NIU and my wife earned her master's in physical therapy from Northern. My grandmother has lived in DeKalb as long as I've been alive and my parents now live in Sycamore, DeKalb's next-door neighbor.

The DeKalb/Sycamore area is a sleepy little town dominated fairly well by the university. And, the region sits smack dab in the middle of the some of the most fertile farmland in the country. From the air, I'm fairly certain that its footprint among the cornfields is like Las Vegas in the desert. It's quiet in the summer, as college towns usually are, but hums with activity during the school year. In short, a nice town in which to live and go to school.

Never really dreamed that that quiet town amidst the corn fields would become the center of national media attention. And for all the wrong reasons. . .

Fog

2008-02-05T09:37:00.000-06:00

Drove home from NIU last night in a fog. Literally, thanks to the ever-changing weather buffet that is the Midwest this winter. After the latest cool-down and six inches of snow, temps headed upward and the fog descended upon us.

However, as has been the case lately, now we're teed up for a major snowstorm that's supposed to dump anywhere from 10 to 14 inches of snow on us beginning tonight. Crazy stuff. Can't wait for spring.

Music vs. TV? Music Wins.

2007-12-27T10:08:00.000-06:00

I often have this little exercise with myself. “If I could keep only music or TV in my life, which would I choose?” Takes about a New York second to answer “Music.”

In the spirit of that, there are two two albums lately that are occupying a lot of playtime on my iPod. The first is Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall. It's an acoustic performance full of emotion and raw instrumental talent. Dave collaborates with Tim on a lot of his solo work and while they still play lots of Dave Matthews Band material, I’ve found that his solo stuff with Tim has a different flavor to it. On this, they play a number of songs that I’d not heard from Dave before and they instantly hooked me. Songs such as Oh and Eh Hee and The Maker. I love it when that happens.

Moving me even more than Dave’s latest is the soundtrack to the movie Into the Wild, comprised of songs primarily written and performed by Eddie Vedder, frontman for Pearl Jam. He’s never sounded better and it’s a CD worth picking up, even if you have no interest in the movie or book, which are both worth watching and reading, while you’re at it. Trust me, listen to Long Nights or Hard Sun and tell me those songs had no impact on you. I dare you. . .

You can have my TV. Take it, in fact. But you’ll get my iPod when you pry it from my cold, dead hand. . .

Teach Your Children Well

2007-12-13T09:15:00.000-06:00

Now that it’s Christmas time, and he’s old enough to begin to comprehend, we’ve been teaching our four-year old about the fact that other boys and girls might not have the things that he and his sister have. We’re doing the Salvation Army Adopt-A-Family for Christmas and have been explaining to Alex how that works.

Apparently, he’s getting it.

Last night, as we were putting him to bed, we were telling him about how we’d be stopping at a holiday toy drive this morning where I work to drop off some new toys. We explained that it’s for kids who don’t always get toys for Christmas.

Then, unprompted, came this comment from him:

“I want to give some monies to the boys and girls from my piggy bank.” At which point, he walked over and grabbed his piggy bank off the bookshelf. We helped him pull out some change and put it in an envelope, while at the same time shooting each other looks that said “Can’t believe he said that on his own.”

Teach them young and teach them well.

Have You Put Up Your Christmas Treat?

2007-12-07T13:41:00.000-06:00

We’re all in the car the other night coming home from the Y and were looking at Xmas lights on houses along one of our main roads. Alex promptly tells us that "We need to put up our Christmas ‘Treat’ or Santa won’t come to our house."

I looked at Jen and said "did he just say Christmas Treat?" So, we asked him to repeat it. He said it again.

Jen said "No, Alex, it’s a Christmas tree." "No, Mom", he said firmly, "it’s a Christmas treat!"

So, needless to say, we’re going to try to put up our Christmas Treat in the corner of the living room this weekend.

Hope you've all done the same!

Being There

2007-11-30T21:15:00.000-06:00

What does it mean to be there for our children? I think the definitive answer to that is that there’s not a definitive answer.

At this point in my parenting life—after a whopping four years and two kids worth of experience—I think that being there means just that; being there. It means that nearly every night, before he goes to sleep, my four-year-old Alex asks “Dad, will you tell me about my day?” And, then, dutifully, I review the events of his day. Sometimes, I’ll ask him “Alex, will you tell me about my day?” And, he does, always starting out the story with “Once upon a time, there was a boy named ‘Daddy.’”

It means reading the same book five times in a row because that’s what my 18-month-old daughter wants. And, because there’s nothing sweeter than watching her approach me, book in hand, and then do an about-face as she backs her padded butt into my lap, ready to have me read to her.

It means saying “Yes,” when Alex asks “Daddy, will you watch this movie with me?” even when I know that, at that moment, there’s something more productive I should be doing. More productive, yes. More important, no.

It means sharing the load. Too much is being written these days that men who are active parents are somehow “Super Dads” who need a medal simply because they can change a diaper. This ain’t the 50s anymore, guys. If you want to stay single and kidless, then do it. But, don’t expect to become a dad and then continue to live the life of a single guy. I see some guys in my work and personal life universe doing it and, trust me, it’s not working. It’s putting stress on their marriage and impacting their children.

Jen and I have split the duties fairly effectively since Day 1 of our parenting career began. However, we still have pressures and stresses and arguments. No sympathy needed; we chose this life. It’s just that it’s a lot of work and it takes communication, dedication and patience, a lot of patience.

And so we do those things and make those split-second decisions because that’s what I think parenting is all about. It’s not about how many activities you can drag your kid to during a crazy Saturday. It’s not about making sure your young child can make it to hockey practice after basketball camp and right before play practice. It’s about rolling around on the bed on a lazy Sunday morning, just you and your wife and kids and thinking that there’s really no place I need to be right now. And that’s just fine, thank you.

A few months ago, Jen was cleaning out some old letters and papers from college and came across this poem that she’d hand written on a piece of yellow note paper. She’s not sure where she got it, and we don’t know who wrote it, but it hit me and it’s worth a read.

To My Grown Up Son
Author Unknown

My hands were busy throughout the day
I didn’t have much time to play
The little games you asked me to.
I didn’t have much time for you.

I’d wash your clothes, I’d sew and cook
But when you’d bring your picture book
And ask me please to share your fun,
I’d say “A little later, son.”

I’d tuck you in all safe at night
And hear your prayers, turn out the light,
Then tiptoe softly to the door
I wished I’d stayed a minute more.

For life is short, the years rush past. . .
A little boy grows up so fast.
No longer is he at your side,
His precious secrets to confide

The picture books are put away
There are no longer games to play
No goodnight kiss, no prayers to hear. . .
That all belongs to yesteryear.

My hands, once busy, now are still.
The days are long and hard to fill.
I wish I could go back and do
The little things you asked me to.

We Took the Race We Were Given

2007-10-08T16:14:00.000-05:00

These were earned, not given.

If you haven’t heard or read about the Oven in October (as I’m dubbing it), here are some quick stats from Sunday’s Chicago Marathon, before I get down to the play-by-play report.

Registrants: 45,000
Runners who didn’t even show up: 10,000
Runners who didn't finish: 11,000
Runners who did: About 25,000
Temps: High 80s with heat index of 91
Runners treated for heat-related issues: 300+
Deaths: One (35-year-old man from Michigan; I hope he’s lacing ‘em up in a better place now)

Members of Team Wuori who finished: Two, in a mind-numbing 5:38:19.

I wrote earlier this week that we were going to take the race we were given. What we were given on Sunday was heat and a lot of it. It was an incredibly unbelievable day from start to finish. Stay with me:

Start and miles 1-5: Temps were already warm and humid for the 8 a.m. start. We hit the starting line about 8:15 and cranked out an effortless first mile in 9:30. Energy was high and the atmosphere was electric, especially as we hit the financial district on LaSalle Street. You could almost smell the money. . .

Next couple of miles passed by at about 10-minute pace and things were looking good. However, once we moved out of the canyon of skyscrapers and into a bit of sun, things began to get tougher.

Miles 6 to 8: We took our first water/Gatorade break at mile 6 and at that point, we weren’t feeling that great. People had already started walking during these early miles and, mentally, we were feeling incredibly down at the prospect of 20 more miles in what we knew was going to be steadily-rising temps.

Miles 9 to 12: Jen began to struggle around 10 miles and we took our first PowerGel at the mile 10 aid station. Right before the mile 12 mark, Jen pulled a Brandi Chastain (soccer fans will understand that reference) and tossed her shirt to the street, getting down to just a sports bra; she was soaked with sweat and her shirt was simply getting too heavy to wear or carry.

Huge props go to my good friend Jodi, who lives in Chicago now, and met us right after mile 12 with some cold water and words of encouragement. After we left Jodi, Jen and I got separated at the next aid station. Her lack of a hot-pink running shirt made it hard for me to find her but I finally did after a couple of tension-filled minutes.

Miles 13 to 15: Strangely enough, I felt energized right around 12 or so, as the caffeine-laced PowerGel seemed to give me a boost. I was entertaining thoughts of finishing strong and Jen actually asked me if I wanted to go on by myself. Absolutely not. She was suffering and we were going to do this together.

However, not two miles later, the gel must have worn off because then I began to struggle. We were both in misery as we willed ourselves to the 15-mile mark. Tons of people were walking and we were joining them, off and on.

Miles 16 to 20: This was probably the toughest part of the race for us. Getting through 15 is great but not that great when you still have 11 miles to go. We were hydrating as much as we could, but then we’d have that “sloshy” feeling for a bit that came with its own set of problems.

We continued to shuffle along and were picking out landmarks to run to just to make the run go by a bit faster. Jen would stop to walk for a bit and I’d join her. Then, I’d initiate the walking a ½ mile later or so and we’d rest up before the next push.

Around mile 18, things got weird. A man on the side of the street yelled out that “the race is cancelled.” Couple of women next to me wondered what he was talking about and I made the universal gesture for “he’s probably been drinking.” We laughed and kept on going.

Turned out, he was telling the truth. At an aid station about a ½ mile later, a woman said the race was being cancelled and the clocks were turning off. Confusion was rippling through the crowd but we kept going.

A little bit later at the aid station near mile 20, they were making official announcements that the race was being ended and that people were being told to walk. So, we all basically stopped running and started walking. However, soon, there was the “we have to walk all the way back on the last 6.2 miles of the course?” We weren’t sure if they were going to divert us back or just keep us on the course.

Turned out, we stayed on the official course. We wanted that medal, damn it! And, the more we’d run, the sooner we’d be done, right?

Miles 20 to 26.2: The suffering wasn’t really ending despite our walking from mile 20 to 21. I think we both realized that at least running slowly was going to get us done quicker than just a straight walk. And, my legs were cramping and it was more comfortable to run. So, we’d run for a bit, make it to the next aid station, walk a bit and repeat it. About 75 percent of the runners were walking.

Finally, we hit South Michigan Avenue, the home stretch of the race, and it was a sweet sight. I was feeling good but Jen was still struggling. Aid stations were still functioning and we kept taking water, even with about 2.5 miles to go.

We hit the 25-mile mark and, for the first time since that opening mile, actually began to enjoy ourselves. The final right turn on to Roosevelt is a cruel trick, as you head up a 1/8 mile hill that crosses over the commuter rail tracks. But, it was lined with spectators and that made it OK.

We hit the final 300 meters on the left turn on to Columbus, hardly believing we were going to finish after over 5.5 hours of suffering. We crossed the line together and savored the feeling of placing that medal over our heads.

As I watched some of the news coverage Sunday on WGN, out of Chicago, it really dawned on me what we’d accomplished. I’d been saying to Jen on the El out of Chicago and then the drive home, that I really could not believe that we’d finished in those conditions. It’s something that's going to power me for at least a few weeks before I come back down to earth.

Looking back, the prep for this was a great experience. We had some incredible training runs; the best was probably the lakefront 20-mile run we did in 3:22. And, I know that in optimal conditions like those which are normally the case for Chicago in October (50s and 60s), we would have had a great race and a much better time.

However, we took the race we were given and we made the best of it. I’m probably as proud of this accomplishment as any athletic endeavor we’ve ever attempted. And, I know that there are about 25,000 people out there who finished the race, are looking at their medal, and are thinking the same thing: “Chicago gave me a blast furnace in October and I cooled it off, damn it.”

Odds and ends from my mental notebook

*The crowds in Chicago were amazingly dedicated and provided a huge lift to us along the entire course. Even as we were finishing, after more than 5.5 hours, the corner of Michigan and Roosevelt was packed, as was the final 300 meters to the finish line. Such a huge thing to have people cheering for you and it was definitely my favorite part of the race.

*Right after the 18-mile mark, well before the next aid station, where Jen told me later she was in the most distress, a man on the side of the street handed her an unopened ice-cold bottle of water. Out of the blue. A random man with one bottle of ice-cold water. Just for her. Very weird.

*Signage is big in this race, both from members of the crowd and the runners themselves. Tons of runners put their first name on the front of their shirts. It’s a little off-putting at first, but very cool to hear people yelling, “Go Wester!” in the middle of thousands of runners. And, runners write things on the back of their shirts as well.

On our shirts, we'd written“Alex and Kristen’s Dad” and “Alex and Kristen’s Mom.” We had at least three different people ask “Who’s watching Alex and Kristen today?” Saw three women in their early 20s with “Big Sis,” “Middle Sis,” and “Little Sis” on their respective shirts. I sure hope they finished together. And, another woman had written “85 degrees in Oct? WTF?”

*Much has been written about the aid stations and lack of water. I think the bigger problem was that the spacing of the aid stations, about every 1 to 1.5 miles, was simply too far in this kind of heat. By the time you hit an aid station, you were so desperate for water and Gatorade and cooling, that you were grabbing as much as you could and it was just a madhouse. The worst aid station we saw was between mile 20 and 21 before the turn on to 35th street. It was decimated, with hardly anything left, and there were aid workers, surrounded by desperate runners, pouring water directly on to people. Surreal.

*Jen is wicked strong. She had a bad day on Sunday and really summoned some internal strength to cross that finish line. She told me afterward that she thought seriously about quitting at least two times but pushed past the pain and didn’t let up. She’s a machine.

*Finally, my Dad has posted a wonderfully articulate essay on us crazy marathoners on his blog, which you can read here. It’s a great piece of writing, as his stuff always is.

*Despite the pain and the suffering, a small part of me wants to do this again. Jen thinks I'm nuts. She's probably right. . .

Run the Race You're Given

2007-10-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

About 24 hours to go and here we are, enjoying a relaxing day of. . . relaxing. Going to be staying off our feet today and just hanging out.

Had a good day yesterday and everything went as planned. Headed into McCormick Place mid-morning to the Health & Fitness Expo and picked up our bags and timing chips. We walked around the Expo and bought a few things; hat for me and some running shirts for Jen. Nothing we'll wear tomorrow but we got some good deals.

It was definitely motivating to be in the company of so many marathoners. Many, undoubtedly, getting ready for their first marathon and filled with anxiety, excitement and uncertainty about what's to come. Others, like us, in that strange position of facing their second marathon; strange in that we know what's to come and feel confident in our training but still filled with some of that inevitable self-doubt about what's going to happen.

A good friend of mine recently sent me an e-mail with some great last-minute things to think about before the marathon. One sentence really hit me and it was this: "You don't get to run the race you want. You get to run the race you are given." That's been in my head for the last several days and it's having a nice calming effect.

It's going to be hot tomorrow and it's probably going to alter our race plan. But, you know what, I think I'm OK with that. We've trained hard, had some great runs and had some crappy runs. We know we can do this. No matter what happens, we'll make it across the finish line tomorrow. Will it be the time we want? I certainly hope so. If it's not, we'll keep in mind that old adage that applies to 99 percent of marathoners out there; the ultimate goal is to finish.

That's the true purpose of running a marathon and, from that, comes the true satisfaction.

Race Prep and Logistics

2007-10-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

Beginning the countdown to the big race and we’ve now begun to tighten up some of the logistics and planning around the weekend.

Taper: We’re into the final week’s taper following our 10-mile run on Saturday. We had a great 30-minute run on Tuesday with five 60-second pickups thrown in to keep the legs fresh. We’ll do the same today as we’re trying to keep everything humming while recovering from the heavy mileage at the same time.

Didn’t think this would happen but I’ve got a toenail that’s going to fall off, post-race, and my ankles and knees have been a touch sore in the last week or two. I place the blame for all that on the fact that we’ve run about 65 miles in the last 15 days so I’m confident this light week will solve the problem. Legs felt good on Tuesday so I’m hopeful.

Travel: We’re doing things a little differently this year, as opposed to what we did in 2004 when we last ran Chicago. We’re heading into the Health & Fitness Expo at McCormick Place on Friday where we’ll pick up our bags, timing chips and walk around the exhibits. Then, we’ll stay at the Schaumburg Courtyard by Marriott Friday night so we can get a good kid-free night of sleep. Had read somewhere that the night before the night before the race is when you need a good night’s sleep. Kind of hard with two little kids so we’re hitting the road.

Saturday, we’ll stay off our feet almost all day and switch hotels to the Renaissance right by the Cumberland Ave. Blue Line El stop. There’s a sidewalk from the hotel that leads right up to the El stop so that will work very well. A 40-minute ride later and we’ll be downtown ready to run.

Timing: An important part of the last couple of days before a marathon is to stay on your normal routine. Eat what you’ve been eating. Don’t overhydrate. Get good sleep. On the other hand, it’s also important to acknowledge that a few things may need to be altered in the last 48 hours or so before the race simply because of travel or other things outside of your control. Two big things are eating and drinking.

Eating: Carbs are big for runners. During our training, we’ve done Pasta Fridays at our house to top off the tank before our Saturday long runs. Knowing that we’d be out of town on the two nights before the race, we settled on the Olive Garden as our pre-race meal. Ate there before the 20-miler and have been doing the same on the last two Fridays in an attempt to get our stomachs ready. It’s worked well so let’s hear it for spaghetti and meat sauce. We’ll do Olive Garden on Saturday night, if not Friday night as well.

Drinking: Forecast right now for race day, subject to change of course, is for temps in the 80s by mid-day so we’re watching that closely. However, without the summertime humidity present, I’m not that concerned. We’ve been hydrating normally and plan to do so through the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Been some interesting research done in the last several years on hyponatremia, which is a serious medical condition brought on by over-hydrating. Happens to a lot of distance runners who attempt to pound the water in the days before a race, and often during the race, and then end up washing out all of the electrolytes from their body and end up with problems.

Three days to go and it seems to be coming together. . .

Crazy Fast--Men's World Record Set

2007-10-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

Try this. Head out to your local high school track. Warm up a bit and run as fast as you can for one lap. If you're in really good shape, maybe you can pull off a 2-minute quarter mile or even a 1:30.

Now, have an ambulance on standby and try to run that quarter in 1:12. It's extremely fast, elite-level fast, actually. That pace will get you a 4:45 mile. Now, do that for 26.2 miles, not letting up at all and probably throwing in a couple of even faster miles along the way.

That's what Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia did on Saturday in setting a new world record time of 2:04:26 at the Berlin Marathon. Read about it here and then sit back and try to figure out how runners of that caliber do the things they do.

Amazing.

I Suffer and I Like It

2007-09-28T14:35:00.001-05:00

Lance Armstrong to his young son Luke: “What does Daddy do?”
Luke Armstrong: “Daddy makes them suffer.”
Sports Illustrated, August 4, 2003

This essay is about suffering. The kind of athletic suffering that makes you question your very sanity. The kind of suffering that makes you look at the next week’s long run and say, “Wow, we ONLY have to run 14 miles on Saturday. Shouldn’t be too bad.” The kind of self-imposed suffering that makes your wife say, “You need help.”

It’s been said that running long distances is partly psychological and partly physical. There’s the training and conditioning your body to handle long runs. Pretty simple enough. And then there’s the mental preparation involved in the same enterprise. In my mind, an entirely different proposition.

As I’ve become a more experienced runner over the last few years, with one marathon and two half-marathons under my belt, I’ve begun to learn that I’m in the 90 percent mental and 10 percent physical camp. Here’s a few thoughts on why. . .

Out of hundreds of training runs in my life, I’ve “quit” two of them. I can remember and describe the context of both and the fact that I didn’t finish them still pisses me off to no end. Both of them were years ago and, looking back on them now, I realize they were cases of mental weakness on my part, pure and simple. Huh?

In other words, I wasn’t feeling well physically and, instead of having the mental toughness to overcome it, I gave in and I quit. They weren’t very long runs, by any means. I was simply having a sub-par day physically and I let that overcome my will to finish the run.

Lots of endurance athletes know this feeling; your body is saying “no mas,” but it’s really not shutting down on you and you’re not in real physical danger. Instead of pushing through this wall, however, you give in and let the ease of quitting defeat the notion of pushing through and finishing.

Training for and running a marathon gives you the opportunity to see how tough you really are. Whether your burning desire to accomplish something that few can is enough to overcome your desire to stop.

Few athletic endeavors possess the “suffering” factor of marathon running and I believe it’s the sheer individualistic nature of running that makes that the case. Oh sure, you can be cheered on by the crowd or encouraged by your running partners and that can certainly play a role. But, in the end, it’s you, and you alone, who must force one foot in front of the other in spite of the pain and exhaustion and overwhelming desire to quit.

That said, the suffering pays off in the incredible sense of accomplishment you gain from overcoming the challenges of these long runs. There’s the endorphin rush that you get after the run; there really is something to that “runner’s high.” More importantly, it’s something you can carry around with you to get through other tough times. “If I can run 26.2 miles,” I’ve often thought, “surely I can get through THIS.”

So I run. And I suffer. And I like it. Really.

Great Run Today---Two Weeks to Go

2007-09-22T17:46:00.000-05:00

Had an excellent run today. Temps were perfect (40s at the start) and Jen and I pounded out 15 sub-9:45 miles and ended with the last mile in 8:20. That’s crazy fast for a last mile and we both felt great.

Following last week’s issues during the 20 miler, I altered my tactics a bit and took much less water and Gatorade during the run today. And, I only did one PowerGel, at 10 miles, instead of doing one every five miles. That strategy seemed to work. I’m going to duplicate that during our last long run (“only” 10 miles) next Saturday and apply it to the race as well.

Two weeks to go and we’re beginning to fine-tune our pre-race strategy regarding sleep, nutrition, travel, rest, etc. More on that shortly. . .

The Home Stretch

2007-09-16T21:00:00.000-05:00

It’s three weeks to the Chicago Marathon and we’re hitting the home stretch and are getting ready to taper. Today, we did a 20-mile run along Lake Michigan in Chicago. It was the Ready to Run 20 Miler and was organized and sponsored by the Chicago Area Runners Association. It was not a race. Rather it was an organized run for those doing a fall marathon who are now at the point in most training programs where you run 20 miles.

It was designed primarily for those training for Chicago. Judging from the conversation, it seemed that the vast majority of runners today—about 3,000—are indeed running in Chicago in three weeks. However, there are a few other noteworthy fall marathons that I’m sure are on the agenda for some of the others.

It’s exciting and inspiring to be out on a training run with hundreds of others and with the incredible cityscape of Chicago as your background. It definitely carried us through the run. And, it was a nice change from the usual locations of our longer runs.

The run itself started at the Foster Ave. Beach and ended 20 miles later at the South Shore Cultural Center. As it has been during this year's training, my run fell into a pattern. The first few miles were a little rough; getting warmed up and settled into a groove. Miles 7 to 10 were great, as they usually are for me, as the motor was revving well and I felt like I could go forever. Then came what I refer to as the Dark Times, where I typically encounter some kind of soreness or something that forces me to push through the pain.

The suffering hit around 13 to 15 as my stomach, for some reason, felt tight and heavy. It was not the usual suffering and was damn frustrating. Not sure if it was a little overhydration or what, but it wasn't pleasant.

That essentially continued during the last 5 miles as I willed myself to the finish. However, I'm not that concerned about it as we stayed on pace the entire time (slightly below 10 min/mile) and finished strong. Just something for me to keep in mind as we get ready for the marathon itself.

We've now run 304 miles in 13 weeks training for this race. Has it been tougher physically or mentally? More on the mind versus body battle that is marathon training in a new post in a day or two. . .

Another Fight Against the Culture of Fear

2007-08-23T21:25:00.000-05:00

On the road in Pittsburgh but felt the need to post from the Steel City. . .

I wrote back in April about the culture of fear in our society. You can re-read it here, if you'd like. The gist of my argument is that we're raising a generation of children, and adults, quite frankly, to believe that there are predators and criminals lurking in every car, behind every door and at every street corner. Statistics don't bear that out, I argued, and while we need to be smart and vigilant, we shouldn't toss out our common sense in the face of this fear-mongering, which is being driven mostly by the mass media.

An article today in the Wall Street Journal addressed something that I've noticed developing among even some of my peers; a creeping belief, apparently, that all men are dangerous to kids. Rather than read my attempt to paraphrase it, read columnist Jeffrey Zaslow's story here.

Assuming you've read it now, I think the issues he addressed are quite valid and bear some comment. Why has our society begun to develop a belief that the only nurturing that men can do with children are with their own children?

I'm a great Dad. There, I've said it. Like most parents, I'd walk through fire for my children. However, I've been good with little kids for a long time and well before I was a parent. From my days as a camp counselor in college and into adulthood, I've always been able to make a connection with kids. Not sure why. Not sure if it's because I don't talk down to them, even when they're little. Or I'm patient with them. Or that I simply listen and pay attention to them. Whatever it is, I've just always been able to make them comfortable.

Does that make me weird? An anomaly? Absolutely not. I know lots of other men who are the same way. They care about their own children and they're great with other children. They're dedicated coaches, youth group leaders, mentors and other role models so desperately needed by today's youth. So, when there are people or groups out there warning that "men are a high risk to kids," we as men need to stand up and fight that. And, we need the women in our lives to do the same.

Look around an elementary school lately. When's the last time you saw a male elementary school teacher? I'm in my late 30s and can remember having male teachers in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade and on. Don't seem to see a lot of that anymore. Why? Because, if you buy the fear, only men with an unhealthy interest in children would want to teach little kids? Ridiculous, right?

Enough fear mongering. Enough trying to scare our children into thinking all strangers are bad and that there are male predators lurking everywhere. Do the statistics show that more men than women are child molesters? Absolutely. However, as it relates to the general population, the actual number of male child molesters is an absolutely tiny number compared to the loving, nurturing and dedicated men out there who can and must continue to play an important role in our children's lives.

It's all about perspective and context. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have a far greater chance of being killed on the way to PIT tomorrow than on the plane to ORD. Am I afraid of flying? Nope. . .

90 Days to the Finish Line---Part 2

2007-08-20T14:08:00.000-05:00

Well, as I write this, it’s actually 48 days to the start of the Chicago Marathon. Continuing our story:

Running a marathon is one thing. Training for it is another. Whenever I’d contemplated running a marathon, I’d always focused on the end result; running the marathon itself. What I hadn’t pondered, what no one had told me, was that race day is the EASY part. It’s the training for that day, the race itself, that takes such a high level of motivation and dedication and leads you to question your own sanity.

Training for the Chicago Marathon in 2004 was an entirely different production than what we’d done for the half marathon. Eighteen weeks is a lonnnnng time when you’re focused on the end result; completing the marathon. It’s very hard to realize that the journey is much harder than the destination itself, if that makes any sense.

All in all, however, and despite those difficulties, the training went reasonably well. We were diligent in our runs, ate well, and persevered through some tough Midwest-humidity-laden slogs that sapped our strength but good.

There were highlights. Running an 8:20 mile at the end of a 16-mile run was one of mine. Watching my wife turn into a serious runner was another.

There were lowlights. Feet blistered. We each lost several toenails during the training process. We realized that you need to go bigger in your shoe size, when you’re doing that much running, unless you enjoy losing toenails from the constant pounding.

After completing a 20-mile run a few weeks before the race, we began to taper, where you ease up on the mileage to give your body a chance to recover before the race. The last weekend before the race, with a 10-mile run, seemed and felt easy. On to the race.

Race weekend arrived. Things were looking good. Then, dinner happened. We made a chicken/pasta dish on the Friday night before the race in an effort to bulk up on the protein and carbs. Big mistake.

Woke up about 11 p.m. that night with major GI issues, both north and south of the equator, so to speak. Dealt with that all night and actually lost two pounds overnight. Headed into our Chicago hotel that Saturday and things were no better.

I was still sick, my wife was getting sick, and a sense of impending doom was setting in. We headed to McCormick Place on Saturday afternoon, to the Health & Fitness Expo, to pick up our packets. Sensing a problem on the horizon, my wife was smart enough to take a plastic bag with her. Good thing, it was, as she refunded what little lunch she’d had about halfway back to the hotel on the El. I had my own problems and was eyeballing every public restroom I could to avoid more embarrassing moments.

The race itself was an exercise in perseverance. We toed the starting line feeling a bit better than we had over the previous day but with a great sense of trepidation over what was to come. Started out fine, though a bit overwhelmed at the 30,000+ runners inching their way north.

We hit the halfway point (13.1 miles) at a slow pace but feeling OK. It went downhill from there as my wife had a reversal in a garbage can at Mile 17. Our lack of eating the previous 24 hours caught up to us. And, our attempt to over-hydrate during the race backfired on us.

The last nine miles were a blur as every mile became longer than the last. Finally, the finish line was in sight, we pushed up the last hill on Columbus (a cruel placement as it hits you right when you’re the most exhausted at the end of a very flat race) and savored the finish line with the clock reading 5:00:43.

While we weren’t happy with a five-hour time, we were pleased with the accomplishment. Having been that sick, we probably shouldn’t have expected to finish the race, let alone start it. And, almost immediately, we knew we’d be back to do it again someday and seek our “revenge” on the race.

Now that you’ve read the tale of the 2004 Chicago Marathon, I’ll try to post some brief updates as we count down to the 2007 version and, more importantly, as we approach the Monster Month. . .

Show Me the Money

2007-07-30T21:34:00.000-05:00

I like my bank. I hate my bank. I like my bank. I hate my bank. Raise your hand if you have that same relationship with your bank.

We bank at a locally-owned bank and I feel good about that. Really, I do. I feel good that my money stays in the community and goes to work for others. We have our mortgage, checking and savings at one bank and have been treated well there for years. Lately, my happy feelings have been changing and it's all the fault of the damn Internet.

First, I read this article by Jane Bryant Quinn, the well-respected financial columnist for Newsweek. The article speaks for itself and the bottom line is this; for those of us keeping anything more than a few hundred dollars in a traditional savings account at a bricks-and-mortar bank, we're being taken to the cleaners when it comes to interest rate yields. There are much better deals to be found in the online banking world.

About a week after that article appeared, I received a well-designed (I'm in marketing, you know) direct-mail piece from ING Direct offering me $25 if I opened a savings account with them. More importantly, they were offering a 4.5 percent interest rate on that savings account. ING Direct, is an FDIC-insured online branch of ING, which is a monster financial services company. I'm savvy when it comes to personal finance and always evaluate our options before I make a move. This one, however, took very little time to decide.

All it took was a quick and downright disturbing glance at my latest savings account statement. We were currently earning .30 percent. You read that right; that’s slightly more than one quarter of one percent. Now, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say I could stash our money in our basement and the dust that would accumulate on it would probably be worth more than that after a little time.

I'm fully aware that savings accounts have traditionally yielded very little and were purposely designed that way. They're all about liquidity; I can get my money quickly and with no hassle. What you gain in flexibility and convenience, you lose in interest accumulation. I get it, really. But, this was ridiculous.

You do the math on my new rate. That’s 4.5 percent. $4.50 on $100. $45 on $1,000. $450 on $10,000 and so on. I don't want to even do the math on my old rate, it's too embarrassing. So far, I've earned more on my savings at ING Direct in two months than I would have in more than a year with my local bank.

My account is tied to my current bricks-and-mortar checking account and I can move money easily between the two. Access to the money is quick as well. Local banks, at some point, are really going to feel the heat of the online banking world, if they haven't already. ING Direct also offers checking, CDs, mortgages and home equity loans at far better rates than a lot of regular banks. I believe online banking is one of the last frontiers of the Web where people haven't yet fully become comfortable. That is changing and it will continue to put the pressure on smaller banks with too much overhead to match the rates.

To my local bank, I think I still love you. But this isn't personal, it's just business.

No Comment Necessary

2007-07-15T15:30:00.000-05:00

Pope Says Only Catholics Can Be Saved
The Associated Press
July 12, 2007

The Vatican's announcement Tuesday that non-Catholic denominations do not provide a path to salvation outraged many international Protestant leaders. . . The 16-page document, approved by Pope Benedict XVI, stated that other Christian communities "cannot be called ‘churches' in the proper sense" because they cannot trace their bishops back to Christ's apostles — known as apostolic succession. . .

Catholic Church to Pay $660 Million Settlement in Abuse Cases
The Associated Press
July 15, 2007

Lawyers in Los Angeles say the Roman Catholic Church there has agreed to pay $660 million to some 500 victims of sexual abuse by priests between the 1940s and 1990s. The settlement is by far the largest ever reached with a Roman Catholic diocese since the clergy abuse scandal erupted in Boston in 2002. . .

90 Days to the Finish Line--Part 1

2007-07-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

It's now 90 days until October 7 and the 8 a.m. start of the Chicago Marathon. I know this because my wife and I are training for it. Again.

Five years ago, the thought of doing a marathon was not seriously rooted in our athletic sub-conscious. We'd done some short-course triathlons. Done a 100-mile bike ride at a 16 mph average pace. Run lots of 5K races. But a marathon? Not bloody likely. I suppose we looked at it as one of those "boy, wouldn't it be cool if we could accomplish that?" types of things. However, it seemed so out of the realm of possibility that it never entered the serious discussion phase. Then, ironically, childbirth happened.

My wife had our son in December 2003 at around the same time the Rockford Area Literacy Council announced it was organizing a half-marathon to be held in May 2004. Wow, wouldn't that be a great thing to accomplish a few months after the baby? And, so, just like that, off we were, doing the half-marathon training program developed by the legendary Hal Higdon.

The 12-week training program was tough but it got us in great shape and we finished in 2:04; an incredible time, we thought, for two people who'd never really run longer than 5 miles at a time, even in the glory of our triathlon days. More importantly, it began to remove the doubt we had about completing a marathon.

I'll never forget the conversation we had about a week after the half marathon. We sat in our living room, baby boy sound asleep upstairs, looked at each other and said, "so, should we do Chicago?" We agreed that our son was at a relatively low-maintenance stage in his life, babysitters were plentiful and, hey, we were halfway there already. What the hell? Why not?

And, again, off we were on the Hal Higdon 18-week marathon training program. While the half-marathon experience was relatively uneventful, the Chicago Marathon experience was not.

Tune in shortly for tails of blisters, muscle aches and a "reversal" on the Chicago El. . .

I’m Sweet, but Don’t Mess with Me: A Tribute to Strong Women

2007-06-03T00:38:00.000-05:00

Writer’s Note: This is not a suck up to my wife. I swear. If she takes it that way and I get something out of it, so much the better. For you, dear reader, I hope you just take it as a tribute to strong women everywhere.

What I’m feeling now is that the world needs more strong women. Annika Sorrenstam. Uma Thurman. Hillary Clinton. Nancy Pelosi. Peggy Noonan. Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2. Melissa Etheridge. Angelina Jolie. Ellen DeGeneres. My wife.

My wife is a strong woman. If I had to describe her, I’d say that men want her and women want to be her. She’s smart, athletic, attractive and, more importantly, has that quiet strength that says “I may be sweet, but you really don’t want to mess with me.”

However, there’s a tender side to her that’s make her an incredible mother and great wife. We met after our freshman year in college as counselors at a YMCA camp. We always laugh that neither of us was attracted to the other at first; it took a few weeks.

We’ve been married now for more nearly eight years but have been together for nearly 17. In that time, I’ve seen her evolve from a flirty and goofy college girl to an accomplished physical therapist who’s accomplished everything in her career that she set out to do.

I see her strength in interactions with our friends and family. She’s a leader to whom people turn for her expertise in a variety of areas. She’s a great cook. She’s crafty. She’s creative. She’s a phenomenal athlete. She’s got a technical side of her that’s makes her invaluable if you’re reading a set of plans. She’s a great Mom who’s forever dispensing valuable advice about how to manage and raise kids.

More importantly, she’s done all this while being paired with a demanding SOB like me. I’m tough and I can be an asshole. My family knows it. I know it. I demand a lot of the people around me. Life is serious and you’ve got to be serious to accomplish anything.

“In my book, you either do it right or you get eliminated,” said Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street. It’s a credo that I live by and, strangely enough now, we often quote it to each other. Somehow, she’s survived, and even thrived, in this environment.

That she’s done that and not murdered me in my sleep is a testament to her strength and her ability to adapt to an intense and constantly changing environment.

I’m a lucky man and I know it. If we had more women like her, the world would be a better place.

Warning: Contains Graphic Content

2007-05-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

Poop. There, I’ve said it. This column is about poop. It’s going to be graphic and explicit. I hope you can handle it.

We recently crossed a major hurdle in the potty-training saga of our 3-year-old son and that hurdle was poop. We’ve been working him out of diapers and into peeing on the potty for months and that first transition went rather smoothly. Few accidents. No problem peeing in public restrooms, at school, or others’ houses. Pooping, however, was another story. And the story was that he wouldn’t do it without a diaper.

Potty training started out fine. He was still in a diaper. He’d disappear for a while. We’d call into another room to ask him what he was doing. “I’m pooping,” came the reply. He’d finish. We’d change the diaper. Pretty standard.

Pretty soon, though, my wife decided that we needed to push forward and transition to the bathroom. So, if he said he had to poop, we’d have him go into the bathroom just to begin to replicate the real experience. He had to have reading material, natch; he’s a future man, after all. He’d finish; we’d change him. Again, pretty standard.

Finally, I think my wife had had enough and said it was time to move the pooping to the potty. “I'll do this. This is my project,” she said. “You can have it,” I said.

So, there it was. We’d cajole. We’d offer rewards. Nothing. He still insisted on the diaper. “I’ll poop on the potty tomorrow,” he’d say. Smart kid. Every day became tomorrow and still no luck.

Then, finally, one day, success. Something clicked and he just started doing it. Now, a couple months in, we’ll pick up our son at his school and, quite often the first thing out of his mouth is “Dad,” he’ll say with a sly little grin, “I pooped on the potty.”

Needless to say, we’re flush with success. And, I give all the credit to my wife for taking on the poop project.

Oh, To Be a Kid Again

2007-05-10T15:06:00.000-05:00

Years ago, at my previous job, I was at a planning retreat and we were doing some early “icebreakers” to get everyone in the mood. Groan, I know.

One of the questions was “if you could be any age, what would you like it to be?” When it came time for me to answer, I said “about 9 or 10.” I was amazed at how many people nodded and smiled as I explained why.

Those were the days, weren’t they? Summer memories of leaving the house at 8 a.m. and building forts, playing pickup baseball, exploring the neighborhood, riding bikes, playing in the creek, coming back for lunch and then doing it all again until dinner, when my Dad would bellow a dinner call from the back porch. Life was simple and good.

Am I the only one who remembers their childhood as if it were yesterday? There are days when I think I’m really still just a child and this whole grown-up thing is just an act. I certainly enjoy being an adult, of course, and am beginning to share some experiences with our children that I’m sure will linger in their minds at some point. However, with my own childhood, I can remember the smells, the tastes, the experiences, as if they had just happened. . .

For me it was growing up in northeastern Pennsylvania in old coal-mining country. Playing pick-up baseball on a makeshift field amid the slag heaps. Walking out of Rocky II, for which I had paid a $2 admission, with my friends shadow boxing and dreaming of a run through the streets of Philadelphia. “Flipping” baseball cards and winning enough to amass quite the collection. Until, of course, my Mom decided to sell them at a garage sale; like many Moms did in the 70s and 80s, depriving their children of lifetime income, no doubt. :(

Spent two weeks in the Midwest one summer and learned how to ride a bike when I was approaching 9. Came back home and my parents bought me my first bike, complete with my Dad’s own custom set of instructions for proper bike ownership and maintenance. The set of instructions was only slightly less serious than post-op instructions after open heart surgery. However, he must have been on to something because that bike lasted me into my teens as a paper boy.

Went back through northeastern Pennsylvania about 10 years ago during a college road trip to the East Coast. While some things had changed, much hadn’t. Our apartment complex where we’d first lived was still there. Our first house looked much the same as it did when we’d moved away. Things looked smaller, as they often do with the passage of time. However, the whole experience was exhilarating in a nostalgic sort of way.

Those carefree days are so easy to call up on my mental hard drive that I often wonder if I've even matured past 9 or 10. Oh, sure, I've got a "grown up" job, house, family, beautiful wife, 2.0 children and think I have things together, for the most part.

But, really, 9 or 10 is where it's at, I think. Old enough to do things, but still young enough to enjoy them and not be too "cool" not to do them. Years ago when I was a camp counselor, my "tribe" of 9 and 10 year-olds and I were sitting around the campfire on an absolutely perfect summer night. As I threw another log on the fire, this 10-year-old girl looked up at me and said, "I don't know what it is, but I just feel so good rignt now." She got it right. And, whenever things are a little crazy in my life, I try to summon my inner 10-year-old. . .

Fighting the Culture of Fear

2007-04-06T11:07:00.000-05:00

Marlin: “I promised I'd never let anything happen to him.”
Dory: “Hmm. That's a funny thing to promise.”
Marlin: “What?”
Dory: “Well, you can't never let anything happen to him. Then nothing would ever happen to him."
From the Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo

OK, I admit it. Sometimes I get sucked into it. As a newer parent, it’s very tempting to encase your kids in a bubble, literally and figuratively, in an attempt to keep every ill of the world, real or imagined, from descending upon them. Don’t touch that. Stay away from the stairs. Don’t go out in the front yard alone! And, my two kids are just three and barely crawling, respectively, so I have many years of potential panic ahead of me.

But, then again, there are days when I just realize that our kids are going to fall down, they’re going to play hard and hurt themselves and there’s not a damn thing I can do about that. They’re going to get older, more independent and are not always going to be under my control. Welcome to parenting, right?

Well, a letter to the editor in the local paper last week stopped me in my tracks. I still can’t tell if the writer’s intent was literal or sarcastic. After numerous reads, I’m thinking it was literal, which is what’s frightening. You can judge for yourself. Here’s the text:

“As we cruised down the road on our Sunday joy ride near the lake, my 7-year-old son said he wanted a summer house at the lake. My husband and I jokingly said he would need to get a job — or two or three.My son replied, “OK, what kind of job can I get?” I said, “Paperboy,” then I thought: No, he can’t do that because someone might take him. He asked, “Lemonade stand?” No, I thought, even sitting out by the road is too dangerous and invites child predators.

I told my husband how times have changed. What can our children do? We all know childhood obesity is a problem, and it’s no wonder! We live out in the country and I’m afraid to let my son ride his bike by the road, let alone down it.Even with adult supervision the thought of someone knowing you have small children at your house worries me because the wrong person might be paying attention. I raise the thought about childhood obesity: Children being lazy? Or parents being cautiously paranoid?”

What’s frightening about this reader’s attitude is that it’s intellectually easy for the majority of the sheep-like public to nod their head and say “Yeah, that’s right. There’s sex offenders everywhere. There’s black vans driving around snatching kids off the street. I’m not letting my kid out of the house.”

The simple fact is, it’s not true. Do a little work, as I did here, and you’ll see that’s the facts don’t jive with the conventional wisdom. And, in this day and age, that’s scary. ‘Cause it seems that, more and more, opinions often outweigh facts. But, read a little. Put some brainpower into it and you’ll see that our kids, and adults for that matter, aren’t really being terrorized at the rate in which the media is portraying.

Kidnapping composes less than 2 percent of all violent crimes against juveniles reported to police.
49 percent of juvenile kidnappings are perpetrated by family members, 27 percent by an acquaintance and 24 percent by a stranger.
Acquaintance kidnapping involves a comparatively high percentage of juvenile perpetrators, has the largest percentage of female and teenage victims, is more often associated with other crimes, and has the highest percentage of injured victims.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice—http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ibrs.htm

That second bullet point is really striking. More than 75 percent of kidnappings are being done by someone who knows the victim. Kind of flies in the face of the media’s portrayal of all these random, taking-kids-off-the-street kidnappings, doesn’t it? There’s more. Take a look at these stats on the victim/offender relationship.

During 2005 –

About seven in ten female rape or sexual assault victims stated the offender was an intimate, other relative, a friend or an acquaintance.

Males were more likely to be violently victimized by a stranger than a nonstranger, and females were more likely to be victimized by a friend, an acquaintance, or an intimate.

Seventy-four percent of males and 48 percent of females stated the individual(s) who robbed them was a stranger.

Intimates were identified by the victims of workplace violence as the perpetrator in about 1 percent of all workplace violent crime. About 40% of the victims of nonfatal violence in the workplace reported that they knew their offender.

For murder victims, 43 percent were related to or acquainted with their assailants; 14 percent of victims were murdered by strangers, while 43 percent of victims had an unknown relationship to their murderer in 2002.

Two thirds of murders of children under the age of 5 were committed by a parent or other family member.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice--

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict_c.htm

So, having looked some of that over, where does that leave us? Am I being a polyanna? “If I just ignore it, that means it’s not true.” Absolutely not. Do we need to be vigilant with our kids? Absolutely. Just like we should be vigilant with our own personal safety. But, should we push the panic button every time our kids go outside? No way.

It’s an exciting world out there and it’s our job as parents to expose our children to that exciting world. To help them understand it. To help them get out and see it, live it and learn from it. And, to help them leave it just a little bit better than when they found it. That’s what makes life interesting.

Grand Canyon Evangelism

2007-03-18T20:58:00.000-05:00

Halfway down the South Kaibab on the way to Skeleton Point

Looking down the South Kaibab from the trailhead.

Our planned trip to the Grand Canyon went off without a hitch last week and it was everything we thought it could be and more. And, actually, it was one of those rare trips where things went as planned and there were really no surprises.

Flights were on time; even early, if you can believe it. Rental car was great; a Nissan Altima, which was very fun to drive. Hotels were comfortable (Holiday Inn Express and Courtyard by Marriott). Even the food was good, given that there's not that many restaurants in Tusayan, the tiny town just south of the Grand Canyon entrance where a lot of people stay during their visit. All in all, it was well planned and well executed, as all trips should be, but rarely are.

So, how was the Grand Canyon? Well, on our third visit, and second hiking excursion , it was incredible. The South Rim was in the middle of a rare mid-March warm spell and temps were in the high 60s and low 70s, which was absolutely perfect. For hiking, it was even better. Left the trailhead of the South Kaibab Trail on Tuesday morning with temps in the 30s but with plenty of sunshine and temps stayed around 80 at the hottest.

The six-mile roundtrip hike to Skeleton Point was spectacular. We took our time and stopped numerous times along the way to get plenty of pictures and some video. The South Kaibab is definitely steeper and more technically demanding than the Bright Angel Trail, but it was not a problem once we got into a rhythm heading down. Took about 2.5 hours to get to Skeleton Point and we spent about 30 minutes resting our feet and eating a bit before we headed back up.

Hiking in the Grand Canyon, it's been said, is like climbing a mountain in reverse; it's very easy going down but infinitely more difficult going back up. That's why a lot of people do get in trouble in the Canyon, especially in the summer. They start out too quickly going downhill, which is fairly easy, and then underestimate the time and energy it will take to come back out.

Two things we have going for us when it comes to this kind of athletic event; my wife and I are in excellent shape and we pay attention to the National Park Service guidelines about how far to go and when to turn around in the Canyon. And, most importantly, we've read a phenomenal book called, aptly enough, Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon, which details the numerous ways people have lost their lives in the Canyon over the years. It's a great read and, ironically, it's the top-selling book in the Grand Canyon bookstore.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If you've not yet been to the Canyon, you have to go. It's about 210 miles north of Phoenix on roads where you can average about 75 mph. The drive takes you through several climate changes and the scenery is spectacular from start to finish. The payoff is that all the cliches about the Canyon are true. It takes your breath away from wherever your viewing it. The color changes depending on the time of day. And, for many, the view from the rim leads to a strong desire to go down into it.

Quite frankly, it's addicting. Why? We're already planning a trip for next year and camping at the bottom is the plan. . .

More than a Feeling

2007-03-10T19:46:00.000-06:00

The passing of Brad Delp yesterday, lead singer of the 1970s super group Boston, is one of those celebrity deaths that actually made me do more than go, “Oh, that’s too bad.”

Of course, his death doesn't affect me personally. And, sure, Boston hasn't had a huge album in years. But, something about his death, at just 55, caught me. I think it was the realization that Boston was one of those bands where I had every album and enjoyed almost every song they recorded. This, despite the fact that I was barely alive when they were hugely popular. I actually came to their music in my teens when their status as a super group was waning.

More than a Feeling is their seminal work and, probably, the song for which the band is most well known. Something about the lyrics seem to touch me; a self-described music addict.

When I'm tired and thinking cold
I hide in my music, forget the day.

Can’t say it much better than that.

Caught in the Act of Reading

2007-02-25T20:30:00.000-06:00

The Library of Congress

What a nice problem to have. After putting our 3-year old to bed tonight and messing around downstairs, I went back upstairs to do a little work. I'd heard some commotion from his room and figured he was up to something.

As I snuck back upstairs, I heard something. Looked in through the crack in the door and he was sitting up, illuminated by the light of his play fish tank, "reading" a book to himself. I could hear him mentioning trucks and bananas and other miscellaneous items he was describing from the pages.

As I turned away, the floor creaked and he looked up. I turned on the light in my office and then went back into the room. He was under the covers, no book in sight.

"Were you reading?" I asked. "You saw me reading?" he asked. "I sure did. I'm glad you like to read," I said. "I do like to read," he answered.

Hug for son and departure for a happy Dad. Life, at the moment, is good. . .

Savvy Traveling

2007-02-19T20:41:00.000-06:00

The South Kaibab Trail at the Grand Canyon

Successful travel planning is a little bit science, a little bit art and, sometimes, just a little bit luck. I've been planning our upcoming journey to the Grand Canyon for a month or so and it's been fun.

Snagged a good flight on American Airlines. Just $401 total for two tix; though we do have to leave at 6 a.m. from Phoenix on the way home. However, with two little kids, getting up early is not a problem and I'd just as soon get home earlier.

Also, we're leaving early on the way out from ORD, but we arrive nice and early in PHX, giving us time for a leisurely drive to the Grand Canyon. It's about four hours or so, with quite a bit of elevation gain on the way. But, it's very scenic and takes you through several climates as you leave Phoenix, pass through Flagstaff and then make your way to the GC.

My search for a rental car warrants at least a few words. As you may remember from an earlier post, I'm a big fan of Enterprise and rent from them almost exclusively. This time is no exception but the crazy pricing is a story in itself.

Started out with a quote of $228, including taxes and fees, for four days, for a Full Size car (Ford Taurus, Chevy Impala, etc.). I'd learned on a earlier trip that if I check back somewhat regularly, their prices have a tendency to move a bit. Waited a week and, sure enough, the price had dropped to $178. Booked it and was happy.

About two weeks later, just for shits and giggles, I checked it once more, with little hope that anything had changed. Was stunned to find the price had dropped to $130. Needless to say, I booked it. So, a little checking had saved me $102 from start to finish. Have I checked again recently? Absolutely, but with no luck. Totally doubt that it will drop again but the experience has shown that a little persistence can pay off, sometimes in a big way.

Grabbed a couple of nights at the Holiday Inn Express at the Grand Canyon for about $90 per night and then one night in Phoenix at a Courtyard near the airport. Using reward points for that one since Spring Training will be in full swing and the prices were absolutely crazy.

All in all, we'll probably pull this trip off for about $900, food included. Not bad for 72 hours in Arizona.

More details on our plans for the Grand Canyon hike coming soon.

It's Frickin' Freezin' in Here, Mr. Bigglesworth

2007-02-03T21:58:00.000-06:00

Temps in the Midwest have plummeted the last few days and we've settled in for a long, quiet weekend inside. Super Bowl's set for tomorrow and, for those of us in northern Illinois, the frigid temps are a good excuse to stay inside and get ready for the big game. Go Chicago Bears!

Kids have been a little crazy lately but are still holding to the 50:1 rule that I outlined in an earlier blog posting. Been living in the Midwest 20 years now so I'm used to the nasty winters. However, kids in the winter bring a new definition to cabin fever. It's so much nicer in the summer to head outside and burn off a little energy when the kids are getting bored. Kind of hard to do that when it's -2 and snowy out.

We've been able to limit the TV viewing, for the most part, and are able to keep our 3 year-old occupied (our 8-month old is not an issue yet). He watches little regular TV to begin with, which is a good thing. We've kept him to movies, mostly. Our reasoning is that it's something we can control and we know exactly what he's watching. It's far better than parking him in front of the Cartoon Network and then having him bombarded by 10 minutes of commercials every 30 minutes.

Heard that Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow yesterday, which means an early spring. Trust me, it can't come soon enough.

Come Back, Lime Sherbet Green

2007-01-17T21:17:00.000-06:00

The title of this post is in honor of my beautiful wife. And, sorry, only she'll get the reference. Moving on. . .

There are some things I don't understand. And, sometimes it's good to just get them off my chest after they've been sitting there a while. So, here goes:

The other day, the marquee on a local Burger King was advertising "free peppers on any sandwich." Now, I'm in marketing but I just don't get this. Hot peppers? Green peppers? Red peppers? And, is that really something I want on a Whopper? Is it enough to make me pull in just for that? I don't think so.

There's a sign near one of the busiest intersections in our town that says "Church entrance, 73 feet." I'm not kidding and someday I'll post a picture to prove it. I pass this often and have many times noticed that by the time I've processed the wording on the sign, I've already sped by the entrance. What's the point? Only God knows apparently.

Must we install the sewer covers (notice the politically-correct reference to manhole covers) always in the exact spot that my wheels are regularly traveling on the damn street? Honestly. Is there a highway engineer somewhere who supervises road installation and says "Yup, that's where the wheels will be, make sure you put 'em there." Aaargh!

I'm feeling much better now.

It's Been Calling. We're Answering.

2007-01-08T22:01:00.000-06:00

The Grand Canyon's Bright Angel Trail

There's not much I can say about the Grand Canyon that's not already been said or written. If you've been there, you'll understand the impact it can have on you. If you've not, you've got to get your ass there to know what I'm talking about.

My wife and I have been there twice; the first time was a day trip in 2000, when we spent about four hours along the South Rim in January. It was an awe-inspiring experience as a first time visitor and we immediately knew we were going to return. Once you've stood on the rim, the only logical next step is to go down into the canyon itself. . .

Which we did in 2002, on a 9-hour climb with my sister and her husband. It was a 12-mile round trip down the Bright Angel Trail to Plateau Point and back, involving more than 8,000 vertical feet in total elevation change. Never have I been so invigorated and so in awe of the Earth than I was on that day. And, never have I been more exhausted than I was at the end of the hike. It was truly life changing.

Since that last visit, it's been calling to us. More so lately, for some reason. So my wife and I will be returning in March to venture down into one of nature's most awesome achievements.

More on our plan as it develops. . .

The Quest for Ted Bear

2006-12-24T22:15:00.000-06:00

Like many 3-year olds out there, my son has a favorite carry-along friend. It's a combination small blanket, teddy bear thing (pictured above) that came from one of our good friends a few months after our son was born. It's basically a teddy bear; however, our son refers to it as "Ted Bear." It's no "Woobie," as those who have seen Mr. Mom will recall, but it's important to our son's psyche and he often calls for it when he's hurt himself or if he's really upset.

It's also a vital enough object that we rarely let it leave the house; even if it does make the car, we try to leave it in there if we go somewhere. Rarely has it been lost and only then, it's usually just been buried somewhere inside the house.

Today, we returned home from some Christmas Eve family activities and Ted was nowhere to be found. We'd been at church before heading off to the in-law's house and I was convinced our son had been carrying it when we walked out of church. He was asking for it and at 9:30, well past his bedtime, I was a little concerned that Ted was gone.

Called over to the in-laws and it wasn't there. So, I headed back over to the church with little hope that I'd find it but hoping I'd get lucky. Walked into a completely empty facility, bathed in light and silently anticipating the 11 p.m. service that would take place later tonight.

After a quick glance at the lost-and-found box, I headed into the children's play area with little hope that Ted would be there. I glanced in the cubby and found nothing and quickly began figuring out a diversion to use on my son when I returned home empty handed. I figured all was lost when a final look toward the back toy shelves revealed Ted quietly sitting there.

Life was good. A Christmas miracle? Absolutely not. However, it was a nice parental victory and one to savor, at least for a little while.

Tis the Season

2006-12-23T23:05:00.000-06:00

Been almost one month since I posted last. How sad is that, especially since it's been an absolutely crazy 30 days.

Finished my class at NIU and it was a success. The last three weeks of the semester were a complete blur as I studied for the final and finished the term paper. Have a supportive wife who shouldered the burden of the house and kids as I hunkered down in the great battle of mass communication research. It was all worth it and I'm glad to have that class behind me.

Getting ready for 48 hours of Christmas madness and looking forward to it. Got all our shopping done and have spent some time at home the last two days getting things done and enjoying time as a family.

I'll post again in the next day or two.

Black Friday

2006-11-24T21:47:00.000-06:00

A whole bunch of people with too much time on their hands.

(Photo courtesy of Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel)

Have to offer a comment as we celebrate "Black Friday," the traditional start of the Christmas shopping season. Or, as I like to think about it, the season when Americans reveal themselves as the shallow profligate consumers that they really are.

Despite what my family probably thinks, I actually do enjoy the Christmas season. Love the weather. The music. The lights (especially, the lights!). The times with family. And, the general feeling that the season brings upon us. With the arrival of a couple of children the last few years, I'm looking forward to creating some traditions with them as well.

However, where those feelings go spinning off the highway is the focus on the "buy, buy, buy" mentality that's now taken over the season. Breathless media coverage today about people showing up at 5 a.m. to pick up the latest worthless electronic trinket from Gigantic Mart. Talking heads explaining the meaning of Black Friday as the day when most retailers go from being in the red to now becoming profitable for the year.

Yeah, profitable for the year. Have you looked at Wal-Mart's quarterly profits so far in 2006? According to CNN last week, "the world's biggest retailer said net income rose to $2.65 billion, or 63 cents per share, in the third quarter that ended on Oct. 31, from $2.37 billion, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier." Keep in mind that that's net income, as in profit. I don't think Black Friday is really going to be a make or break for them.

My wife and I have worked hard to get where we are and are fortunate to not want for a lot. We live way below our means, have no expensive hobbies and few major material wants. We save a lot for retirement, carry little debt and are smart consumers. So, when I need something or want something I go and buy it. If it's a little more expensive (for me, more than $50, it seems), I wait a few weeks for the urge to pass and it usually does. Or, I save up the money and buy it anyway.

Millions of people aren't that fortunate. There are children going to sleep each night with no thought of what they're going to receive for Christmas this year. Why? Because they're probably not going to get anything. My kids won't have to have that worry and I work hard every day for that. And, as they grow, I will be teaching my kids the values of hard work and financial responsibility that my parents and others taught me.

When it comes to this season of "unbridled avarice," as it was so aptly put in A Christmas Story, I want to take a stand and try to change things. However, it's difficult to do that without being labeled a Scrooge. Told my family last year that I didn't need them to buy me anything for Christmas and I'd rather they spend the money on themselves or on someone else who could really use it. They pretty much complied but I don't think they were happy. So, I'm struggling with what to do this year. I don't want to cause a family schism but feel like something has to give. After all, if you don't try to change the world, you'll never actually change the world.

My sister said something recently that really impacted me and has begun to shape an evolution in my thinking. She was paraphrasing an author who said "we can choose to be citizens of the world or we can choose to be consumers." It was simple and powerful and if I get the source from her, I'll share it in the blog.

Meanwhile, my thinking will continue to evolve. Shop on.

Rants & Raves--Vol. 1

2006-11-07T21:59:00.000-06:00

RANT--Customer Service

My experiences with customer service lately are like changing a diaper on my five-month old; I never know what I'm going to get and it's often pretty scary. I'm blown away at the attention to detail and incredibly consistent pleasantness of some hotel staff members, for example. Then, I question who the idiot was who hired the receptionist who's rude to me at the doctor's office.

I guess it's that inconsistency that's so maddening. It's easy to think that the quality of customer service can be directly correlated to the salary level of the person delivering it. If you just pay people really well, so the thinking goes, they'll deliver good service. Wrong.

It's wrong in the way that a teenager at the register at McDonald's can be friendly and helpful making $7 an hour and the experienced receptionist at that doctor's office making twice that is rude and obnoxious. Upbringing. Training. Understanding of teamwork. Personal motivation. And, a desire to pay your dues and learn on the way up. Those seem to be the attributes of good workers. The companies that are drilling that into their employees are the ones who will get my hard-earned money.

RAVE--Parenthood

Me to My Almost Three-Year Old Son: "Alex, please come into the kitchen. It's time to eat."
Him: "Just a minute."
Me: Wide grin and head shake.

I'd like to throw a shout-out to all the parents out there with kids under five. I'm not sure I can inject anything new into the parental literature but it sure has been interesting to be a parent.

In a fun, unscientific sort of way, my wife and I have established that our children are operating right now at a 50:1 ratio. For every one thing that might frustrate or befuddle us, there are at least 50 things they do that cause us wonderment, awe and uninhibited love for them. I hope that ratio continues to hold. . .

RANT--Professionalism

Can't anyone here play this game? I'm continually amazed and frustrated as what I see as a lack of professionalism in the business world. Showing up for scheduled meetings five to 10 minutes late when I've busted my ass to make it there on time. You've had the meeting on a calendar for weeks. Get yourself there on time or don't show up at all.

Taking two days to return phone calls. A woman in our organization actually has an outgoing voice mail greeting that says she'll return your call within 48 hours. I'm sorry, but in 48 hours I'm not even going to remember why I called you in the first place, so what's the point?

Using e-mail to avoid, rather than enhance, communication. By the third "RE:" on the e-mail, pick up the damn phone and solve the problem. E-mail should be about communication enhancement, not avoidance. Use it wisely or don't use it at all.

Solitude

2006-10-30T20:49:00.000-06:00

Apparently, I've had a little bit of blogger's block lately. Was doing a lot of traveling August & September and that afforded me time to pull thoughts together and write. Now, not so much.

When you have a busy job, two small children, friends, family and graduate coursework, the phrase "free time" does not tend to enter into the personal lexicon. Lately, it's gotten so crazy that I actually look forward to my 40-minute drive to and from NIU each week. Not the class, mind you, but the drive.

I've always valued my free time and have never had a problem just being alone for a while. Something about the peace, quiet and the sense that, during those moments, you're only responsible for yourself seems to bring me calm. These days, those moments are few and far between. I'm not complaining, really, but observing that often in the midst of all the chaos it's important to just take time for ourselves. Now, if I could only find time to put that in my schedule. . .

Play It Again. . . And Again. . . And Again

2006-09-29T20:39:00.000-05:00

I spend a lot of time with headphones embedded in my ears. Lately, it’s an iPod thing, of course, but music’s been big in my life for years. Somewhat regularly I develop an obsession with a particular song and will listen to it over and over for a period of days or weeks before it fades away and I move on to something else.

Doesn’t have to be a new song and it rarely is. Most often, it’s just something that pops into my head. What’s always interesting to me is the why behind the obsession of the moment. Might be a conversation I have with someone. Might be a mood I’m in. Might be something that’s pissed me off and I’ve turned to the music for stress relief. Might be a “Wow, I haven’t heard that in a while” moment on the radio.

A few weeks ago, if you can imagine, it was “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” by AC/DC. I’m nearly embarrassed to admit that that one was prompted by a mention in a Phoenix magazine of a trendy baby store that had an infant shirt with “For Those About to Nap, We Salute You.” As the father of a three-month old girl, and as a husband to a closet heavy-metal head, I was intrigued.

Lately, it’s been David Gray’s “Babylon.” Not sure why but it popped up on my iPod one night on the lonely drive home from class in the middle of the cornfields and some of the lyrics just grabbed on and haven’t let go yet. Here’s a sample of the first verse and the chorus.

Friday night, I’m going nowhere,all the lights are changing green to red.
Turning over TV stations, situations running through my head.
Looking over time, you know it’s clear that I’ve been blind, I’ve been a fool.
To open up my heart to all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule.

(Chorus)
If you want it, come and get it, for crying out loud.
The love that I was giving you, was never in doubt.
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.

If you have a chance, pick up “White Ladder,” his breakthrough album from the late 90s that was put out with a big push from Dave Matthews’ label. It’s a great album and his music has a haunting, emotional quality that always gets to me. He also holds an interesting spot for me in my musical memory in that I heard him play “Sail Away” on David Letterman’s show when the album first came out. I’d never heard of him, had never heard the song and on that first listen thought “I have to get that album.”

Any music fan will agree that that’s an enjoyable moment. When a first listen is so satisfying that you know you’re going to enjoy the entire album. For me, it happens rarely but it’s usually powerful and I’m almost always pleased. In the last five to 10 years, it’s happened for me with David Gray, John Mayer and Dido. All exceptional artists, in my opinion, who’ve followed up big debuts with solid work since.

I have to admit that it’s always enjoyable when one of these obsessions grabs on and doesn’t let go for a while. Like an addict reaching for another hit, along with the caveat of “I’ll just do it one more time and then I’ll stop,” I’m always in a battle with myself to cut it off before I get sick of the song. Usually I succeed and I’m able to come back to the song and still enjoy it later. Usually. David Gray’s gotta hold of me now. I wonder who’s going to be next. . .