Eight Years Old

Hard to believe, but our twin grandsons are eight years old today.  What a journey it's been.  Now they are in second grade, reading and doing multiplication and generally enjoying life.

From Family-General

It is a real gift they live a mere 10 minute drive away.  Our son is midway through nursing school.  His deployments as a US Army medic have prepared him well.  His wife holds a significant teaching appointment in the manufacturing section of our local community college.  They love these two guys and their little sister...it's a true blessing to have them near and to enjoy warm relationships with all five of them.

Thanks for enjoying this with me.

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A Modified Saturday Morning

ORN: 8.0 miles, R5/W1, 1:27:27, 10:56/mile

In the summer, Saturday morning always means an early alarm to get in a long run before the heat takes over too badly. Today was no different for the alarm but it was different for the activity.

Over the winter, it hit me that one thing a grandfather could do was to take his grandkids fishing. Not that I know anything about fishing...but it still seemed like a good thing. So, I've been trying to learn about local fishing and have actually landed quite a few fish in the area. Surprisingly, I've come to enjoy fishing. It's the opposite of running with respect to effort but much like it in that it gets me outside and in a reflective activity.

So, this morning was the first try to take my twin six-year old grandsons fishing. I picked them up at 7am and we had overcast, reasonable temperatures at a local pond.

Determined Fishermen

Nathan and Drew were understandably excited to go and off we tromped. We had some bites but landed no fish. Yet, that didn't seem to be a big problem as we had a marvelous time together.

From the pond, we headed to a local diner for pancakes and chocolate milk.

Drew, Nathan with pancakes

It was a great morning and a good choice on what to do on a day that saw temps into the 90s with very high humidity.

I finally got out for a run around 11am, intending to do 14 miles. About six miles into it, the sun came out and the heat was awful and I cut it off at 8 miles which was fine. It was a wonderful morning.

Persevere. Even if the fish don't bite.


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Big-Race Goodie Bags Lead to Fun Pix

ORN (Sat): 14.0 miles, R3/W1, 2:24:26, 10:19/mile

After my truncated "long" run last week, I hoped to have a more positive long-ish run yesterday, 2 weeks ahead of the Illinois Marathon. I walked out the door committed to 12 miles, hoping though to do 14 if the strained upper right calf cooperated.

On a perfect, sun-swept, cool spring morning, it was fabulous to simply be out. Since the plan is to run a 1/1 run/walk in the marathon, I wanted to run a 3/1 for training, while keeping the same run pace I intend to use on race day, 9:12/mile.

It worked. The pace felt fine. Better was the news about the right calf. Around mile 4, it mentioned to me "Hey, I'm still here!" But, it never got louder. Just a bit of a minor whine from the back seat which never got worse. This could be the story on race day... it was good to experience and know it is manageable.

But, I digress.

When John and I ran the Honda Los Angeles Marathon four weeks ago, we got, as usual, a full goodie bag at registration. It had the usual mishmash of local race notices, pain relievers, restaurant deals and odd nutritional drinks. Most funny, though, was a complimentary Sweatband emblazoned with the 2010 US Census logo. I guess the tax dollars were worth it for the publicity, but it seemed odd to John and me.

I did have the idea it would make a fun gift for my twin, six-year old grandsons, so John happily donated his to the cause. I gave it to the boys last week and they gladly posed for grandpa to take a photo.




Then, as two kindergarten boys are wont to do, Drew looped behind Nathan and they began to wrestle, leading to this epic image.




Which then raises the Census Question of the Day; Just how do they count two-headed boys?

I guess if you are a Census worker, you just shrug your shoulders and persevere.


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Long Term Running Goal

ORN: 7.0 miles, 1:09:17, R3/W1, 9:54/mile, pain free

Goals are important. And not just vague conceptual thoughts about targets. Many studies have shown that the liklihood of achieving anything is significantly improved with a specific, written goal.

I remember discovering this fact early in my undergraduate studies. I was fascinated by how a clearly-stated, written goal tended to focus the mind, clarify choices and lead to achieving important things. Shoot, I even got engaged after I set a specific goal to improve my social life during the fall of 1974 (but that's a different story and I'd need to have Gretchen tell her side as well).

So, it's probably no surprise I have a long-term goal in running. When I started the second-era of my running career in 2004, I realized I needed a long-term goal to add direction far beyond the short-term and annual list of races to be run. Sometime in 2005, it geled for me. I remember telling Darrell about this goal during our first December marathon meet up in 2006 but I've never posted it here. And in the lull between races for me, this seemed like a good time.

My long-term running goal is to run a race of at least a half-marathon distance on the weekend when each of my twin grandsons get married.

Why such a goal? Well, it gives some life and visual punch to my desire to keep moving and active deep into my life. Let's do the math (hey, I'm a Purdue engineer and I always do the math) and see what this means.

Next week, Drew and Nathan turn 5. Last fall, I turned 55. If they get married in their early-to-mid 20s, I'll be in my early 70s on their wedding days. And, yeah, I'd like to still be running then. I see a good number of men in their 70s at races. Can I be one of them?

The implication of this goal on my day-to-day running is clear. It causes me to pay attention to staying injury-free. It causes me to not get too uptight about inevitable ups and downs of races or training. If illness strikes, it gives focus to any recorery efforts. I didn't put a time goal on my race; but I did say "run". I need a lot of consistency to get to this goal. This adds motivation to keep moving in our extreme midwest weather.

Being a very visual goal, it also adds a strong emotional pull. I can sure make a picture of getting a Saturday morning race in, showering, and heading to a wedding in the afternoon. And the visual, emotional tug is one measure of a useful goal.

Will it happen?? I have no idea. Will Drew and/or Nathan cooperate? Well, this is my goal, not theirs, so there is no pressure on them. I must say, though, I hope their musical taste improves by the time they plan the reception.



I think about this goal a bit during almost every run I make. And it came home in a fascinating way yesterday. We attended the wedding of the daughter of long-time friends yesterday. As family friends, they invited our son, daughter-in-law and their three munchkins as well. When we got to the ceremony, it worked out that the twins sat with Gretchen and me. Well, you can imagine the task of keeping two inquisitive 5 year-olds quiet during the solemnity of a wedding ceremony but it worked. At one point, Drew whispered to Gretchen "Grandma, someday I'm going to get married and then you can be my daughter." Huh?? Well, it made sense to him.

Yet, it was kind of mind-boggling to sit with these two little boys, fast-forwarding 15-20 years and imagine them marrying, much as I hit rewind remembering this bride's birth 22 years ago and seeing her now. That time will go quickly. And, if I can keep in shape, I'll be around to enjoy it.

And will I make it to their little sister's wedding too??


Persevere. In the short and long term.

Thanksgiving Day, 2008

ORN: 5.1 miles, R7/W1, 48:49, 9:35/mile

Thanksgiving happened at our house this year. Wonderfully, we had our entire family together. Matt is home from college, reading more Shakespere and catching up on sleep. Nathan is in from Portland, enjoying his hometown. He's become quite the accomplished cook; here are some action photos of Nathan making an apple pie for the family celebration.

Our three grandkids are a hoot. They are at such fun ages, with the twins almost 5 and Berneice now 2 1/2.

Nathan

Drew

Berneice

With Gretchen's folks in attendance, we had the unique privilege of four generations around the table. This is also the first Thanksgiving in five years that David has been with us. As we saw many tributes to the troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world today, we were both grateful that he is now home and identified with the very real ache of those families with soldiers far away.

Four generations, together.


We have much to be thankful for. Not the least of which is this wonderful, extended running community. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

And keep on persevering.

Isn't She Cute?

ORN: 5 miles, R7/W1

Here's my granddaughter Berneice in a photo I snapped last Thursday. She's almost 15 months old now and is a real cutie.

Gretchen picked up this t shirt for her when we dropped Matt off at Wheaton College a few weeks ago. After three sons and then two grandsons, she is so very, very happy to finally have a little girl to shop for. And young Miss B can indeed turn on the charm. She's a very mellow and easy-going child. Shoot, with twin brothers around to constantly entertain, what does she have to be uptight about.

Enjoy the cute picture with us.

Persevere.

Hill Work, followed by a First

Obligatory Running News (ORN): 11 miles, with 10x400m hills @ 2:05

Hard to believe I’ve moved through the first phase of training on my 26-week program ramping to the Rocket City Marathon on December 8. That phase is Lydiard-esqe hill work over the past few weeks. I’ve never really done intentional hill work, given that hills are hard to find anyway here in northern Indiana. This has been enjoyable, though. The next phase ramps up the endurance; long runs every other weekend with mile repeats on the other weekends, plus a few 5K time trials thrown in.

Today’s run was just plain hot, as temps were near 80 by 10am and the humidity was also in the 80s. Yet, descending into the city park trail I described a few weeks ago was a joy. In the canopy of trees in full summer growth, I enjoyed total shade and the humidity seemed not so onerous. The ten 400m hill repeats passed quickly. I was surprised to average 2:05 for the set, with a low of 1:57 and the high only 2:09. The surprise was due to the heat, plus the fact I had umpired 5 hours of baseball on Friday night in the same heat and humidity. I didn’t expect much from the run, yet it was still useful.

The other surprise was that, despite getting home near midnight from umpiring, I was still anxious to get out the door on Saturday morning to run 11 miles. Most people would find that fully insane. I guess it makes sense, though, when one enjoys running.

The “first” came when I got back from the run. Daughter-in-law Susan was here, with all three of our grandkids. The twins, Nathan and Andrew, wanted to know if they could go run with me. Of course we did! We got their shoes on, went outside and I suggested we “run to the corner” about 80m from our front door. Off we went, a grandpa and two three-year olds, what a sight. The twins ran all the way, we took a short break and quickly ran back. As the two of them are boys and thus not confidently potty-trained yet, it occurred to me that their clothing for this run gave a whole new meaning to the term “training pants.” They ran in the house and proudly reported “We went running with Grandpa Joe!” What a thrill for me…I hope we can have many more runs.

Persevere.

She doesn't care if I overpronate!

ORN: 7.1 miles, 1:09:42, R3/W1, 9:48/mile

Here I am with my eight-month-old granddaughter Berneice. She's quite a doll. She has a wonderfully sweet personality and is a joy to all of us.

We are very blessed to have our grandkids living in town with us. When David deployed to Baghdad, he and Susan bought a house here. Susan, the twins and little Berneice live here, with lots of support from her parents and us. Now, we just need to get her Daddy home to make the family complete. The latest word is that their return scheduled for late September remains on track. At that point, he'll be done with his Army commitment, plans to go back to school to get a Physician's Assistant's degree and stay here and practice medicine. With a big, blue eyed little girl and lively twin sons, it will be a happy day to have them all together.

After three sons and two grandsons, it is so neat for Gretchen and me to have a little girl around! We are so grateful for a healthy, happy baby.

Running? Oh yeah, running. The ramp-up continues with 7 miles today in a biting, snow-filled, wind. No pain. Very neat.

Persevere. And smile with me at a cute baby!!