Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day and all's quiet here in the Den. It should be after the lunch we had to honor the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML. And thanks to Mother United to getting me home 2 1/2 hours ealier than expected yesterday, I actually had time to get a little prepared for the events of this day.

My pre-Church meetings were canceled this morning, which allowed us to ready breakfast in bed for our honoree. The Boy wanted to make breakfast, which consisted of dropping two waffles in the toaster and smearing them with peanut butter. My gift was not vomiting at the site or the smell. If you've not heard, I have a legendary revulsion to peanut butter. It's epic, but I digress. So, with the plate of peanut butter smeared waffles far enough from me so as not to make me puke, the Boy and I went upstairs, woke up CAL so she could be a part of the festivities and in we went to celebrate the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML. So cards and gifts were given, the waffles were enjoyed and then it was off to the races - Church.

Sidebar - I conducted services today and it was pathetic. Because I have a cold that has settled in my throat and I pretty much sound like Peter Brady when his voice cracked. You know the episode and you know the song. Sing it with me: "When it's time to change!"

Anyway, after Church, we set up the dining room for lunch. I cooked a roast (well, the crock pot did), Hassleback potatoes (red potatoes with slices of garlic jammed in them, covered in olive oil and sea salt), and carrots, plus rolls. We'll have dessert later - a lemon poppyseed bundt cake - as we watch the finale of "The Amazing Race." PS - if the bigoted and ignorant Caite and Brent win, I will...well, to say be sorely disappointed does not even begin to cover it.

I'm grateful that my three children have been blessed with an amazing mother. They are who they are because of her - truly. And I am most grateful for the examples of motherhood that have profoundly impacted me - my own mother and my mother-in-law. They are amazing women and their influence for good has been and still is, profound. I am fortunate to have them in my life.

I am, however, fortunate not to have these two as mothers in my life:
Lucille Bluth of "Arrested Development" - Fox's finest hour. Ever. Brilliant. If you haven't watched her in action, you need to. You'll call your mother and thank her for all she's done for you.
Colleen Donaghy of "30 Rock" - More brilliant than the aforementioned Lucille Bluth.

I will watch every one of her appearances on the show over and over. Her relationship with son Jack is hysterical. She blames him for JFK's death and tried to send him to Vietnam when he was 12 to make him a man. He believes she faked a heart attack to ruin his first honeymoon. He accidentally ran her over and broke her hip. Jack once said to her, "Mother, there are terrorist cells that are more nurturing than you are."

That, my friends, is genius. Pure genius. And it reminds me why I am so blessed to have the mom that I do. She is amazing and wonderful. I could not have asked for a better mother-in-law. She raised an incredible daughter, who continues to stand by me and make me a better man. And for that I am forever thankful.

Hoppin' Friday Night at ORD

Hindsight is 20/20, right? Yes, yes it is. I'm being reminded of that as we speak. I am in the Red Carpet Club at ORD with my mom, waiting for our flight back to PHX. When I booked this flight, it seemed like a good idea. It really did. It was not. Here's why...

My day started at 430AM. Woke up to a nice, Midwest thunderstorm but found I could not go back to sleep. So I was at my office desk by 500AM and there I pretty much stayed until 4PM. Long, busy day but I had booked a later flight so I could get in a full day, and I I got my wish. the kids had a half day so Mom wanted very much to take them to a movie before we left and she did that. She also wanted to take us to an early dinner at Courtney's workplace, and we did that. You get the picture - she's had a big day.

Now that winter is over and highway construction season is in full swing, our routes to ORD are chock-a-block with traffic. So I wanted to give ourselves ample time to get there. We got the airport just before 6PM and got checked in and then began the wait for a wheelchair. Apparently every person in need of a wheelchair decided to fly tonight. So when the guy showed up with the chair, my mom and I both did a double-take. He needed the chair more than most. But he was here and ready to push (well, kind of push - it was more like Tim Conway's 'Oldest Man' shuffle from the 'Carol Burnett Show'). It took us close to 30 minutes to shuffle from the B Concourse to where we are now on the C Concourse. And it's madness here...lots of flights canceled or delayed tonight, and tragedy of tragedies for those who drink white wine, they ran out of the "House White" and based in the epic fit one guy was throwing, apparently that's bad thing (another reason I'm glad I don't drink).

So our flight is showing on time but we don't land in PHX until 1030PM. It's going to be a long, long day for Mom, when all is said and done. Like I said, it sounded like a good idea at the time, when I booked this flight. Here's hoping we get out on time...

Viva Cinco de Mayo!

A todos mis amigos, les digo 'Feliz Cinco de Mayo!'

So it's Cinco de Mayo and I'm pretty pleased about this day. I like this holiday, and that's what it is, a lot. Good food and good friends together make for a great day.

The house is filled with the aroma of chalupa. The tortillas - corn and flour - are ready to go. Chips are everywhere. There's a pinata and Mexican flags. We are ready.

What we don't have are the following:


And since I'd rather ram a fork in my eye than listen to mariachi music, I'm really fine with the lack of roaming mariachis.

So head to your nearest taco shop and enjoy Cinco de Mayo!

Illinois (Half) Marathon Weekend Report

Unless you've never stepped into the Den and read a post or two, you know that I've bee preparing for my first half marathon. That half went down today at the University of Illinois in Champaign as a part of the Illinois Marathon. Here's a recap of the weekend:

Friday, April 30
Took this day off so we could get down to Champaign with time to pick up my race packet and to check out the Expo, as well as figure out the parking situation for Saturday. My Mom is with us and given the area they'd be covering as spectators, we had a wheelchair so Mom could be "Ironsides" for the day.

I got in a 2.25 mile final run, got my hair cut (as if that would streamline things a bit more), and then we started down for Champaign around 11AM. The kids got to take the day off from school, for which they were delighted. On the way down, we stopped in Kankakee, a mistake we will never make again. Ever.

Once in Champaign, we checked into the hotel, got my Mom settled, and the kids and I went over to the U of I. Got my bib, shirt, and signed up with a pace team for Saturday. Found out that there were something like 15,000 runners expected for the various events associated with the Marathon, so suffice to say, the Champaign-Urbana (C-U) area was under siege. This made dinner interesting. We had as many as 15 people in our party for dinner (two other families that were running). Not a lot in C-U can handle such a party. It doesn't help that the place has never met a chain restaurant it doesn't like. Anyway, we had dinner and then decided to call it a night. I wanted to get to bed early. I'd had two lousy nights of sleep prior to Friday, so a good night's rest sounded like a capital idea. Before calling it a night though, the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML, CAL, the Boy and my Mom threw a little "Half" party for me. All gifts were half - like one running sock instead of two or a half-filled bottle of Propel. It was pretty funny. Apparently, I'll have to run another half. My Mom did write and read, pretty much on the spot, this poem:

There once was a young man named Mike
Who seemingly everyone liked
He decided to race
Could he keep up the pace?
Perhaps he should be riding a bike!

He trained hard and ran many miles
He found that he ran his own style
A half marathon he did run
And he found it was fun
And despite many blisters he smiled and won

Enjoy the gifts of half
Because you're running a half!

Truly the work of a really good mom. With that reading, I was done and called it a night.

Saturday, May 1
The race was due to start at 7:30AM. So we packed up and headed over by 6:30AM. After the 5K group went out at 7:00AM, we took our positions. I'd found my pace group and started to get antsy. I'd prepared months for this moment and now it was here. We were due to go at 7:30AM but the gun didn't fire until about 7:40AM. I didn't cross the start line until 7:44AM or so, and then we were off. It was somewhat humid this morning and it turned steamy as the sun rose. My first five miles were dead on pace, either just under 10 minute miles or right around 10:18, which was ideal, since that was the pace group time. After about five miles, I needed to cut back a little bit and then at mile six, this thing turned into the Bataan Death March. The one mile from six to seven was ridiculously hard for me. My legs suddenly felt like they weighed a ton of bricks. I dragged them to seven miles and then began the process of working to recover from that mile. That never happened. Ultimately, things were just a little off for me. I did a lot of talking to myself, pushing myself along to mile 10, and then after mile 10, I started feeling like a runner again.

With about two miles to go, the U of I football stadium came into view and I knew I was going to finish this thing. The finish line was on the 50 yard line and as I ran up the walk to the entry area to go into the field, I have to admit I got a little emotional. I was really going to finish! Turning the corner into the chute, the JumboTron came into view and I could see the runners ahead of me on the screen. I looked up and saw the race clock and realized I was going to make the time goal I had originally set when I decided to run this race - 2:30:00. I could feel the smile busting across my face as I ran in. It was awesome. And what a feeling when the volunteer handed me my medal. Oh my gravy! I'd done it! And then I looked up in the stands and saw my family, waving a poster, cheering me in.

So I did it. My time was 2:30:08/pace 11:28 per mile. I'm proud that I finished this run. Would I have liked to have done better? Absolutely. Two weeks ago, I ran nine miles at a minute faster pace. Suffice to say, I learned a lot. I liked what I did today. Will I do it again? Yeah. Will I do a full? Probably.

Here's a few shots, post race:



So 13.1 miles, no blisters, all my toe nails accounted for, and one great hour-long massage later, I'm done. I'm tired. It's been a long, great day. I ran a half marathon. Unbelievable.