Marathon Man

To all my readers, I owe you an apology. I've been keeping a secret from you for the past five months. It's part of the reason I've not been blogging as much (only partly, partly is sheer laziness). I've been working on something on my bucket list; something I said I'd do for the first time when I turned fifty (which I turned last month). I've been training to run in the St Jude Marathon.

I got a plan from Runners World that was an 18 week training plan for the marathon. I got very familiar with tempo runs, Yassos, and strides. I also got used to the weekly "long run". With most training plans, you build up gradually to several long runs of 20 miles. The most I've ever run at once is 14 miles (in training for a couple of half marathons I've run). When those long runs started hitting 16, 18 and finally 20 miles, that was rough. A lot of it is mental, it's hard to keep your mind occupied on a task that long. I listened to a lot of Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard pod-casts to make it through. The first 14 weeks or so went really well. Then, on my second 20 miler, I couldn't make it. I ragged out at 15 miles and was really discouraged. The next week started my taper where you reduce your mileage in the few weeks before the race to allow yourself to be fresh for the run. So, that little bit of doubt started to creep in.

Then the week before, I felt myself starting to get sick. I had congestion and a cough. I toughed it out til the Monday before the big day and finally decided to go see the doctor when I developed pink eye. My doctor (Dr. Pittard) wasn't in, but I saw the urgent care doctor (Dr. Grumley). He gave me what he called a "cocktail" of medicines plus antibiotic eye drops (which I referred to as magic eye drops). I dutifully took them even taking liquid cough medicine (which I usually cannot handle). I started finally getting some sleep and recovering.

That old enemy doubt kept creeping in. I kept saying how I didn't finish that last long run and now I've been sick. I tried to talk myself out of going. My two encouragers keep me going though. Donna told me she had been so impressed at how I'd stuck with my training and she knew I'd be able to do this. Jonathan gave me "tough love" saying "Old Man, don't wimp out now". I made sure to get plenty of sleep each night. I carbo-loaded all week. When Friday came and it was time to leave, we got our rental car and headed for Memphis.

The drive went well. Donna drove the whole way so I could rest. We stayed at the Hampton Inn on near Beale Street and the start of the run. I had managed to get a very nice two room suite with our Hilton Points. Donna and I walked to Huey's to eat dinner and had ice cream at Maggie Moo's. I felt fine and thought just maybe I'd pull this thing off. I went to bed early and offered up a prayer that I'd do OK the next morning.

The next day dawned with temperatures in the mid 40's. It was going to be a perfect day to run. I would not have to weigh myself down with gloves, hat, or sweat pants. I ate a good breakfast and loaded my pocket with my Mp3 player and a couple of packets of Chocolate GU and I was ready to go. We walked to the start about 7:30am to wait for the 8:00am start. I used the bathroom one last time and got into my corral. At St Jude, they have corrals you get into based on your projected per minute pace. I knew especially having been sick I need to get in one of the back ones. I got in the corral and found the pace man for a 5:10 marathon (they hold up a big stick with that number on it). Donna gave me a hug and kiss and one more word of encouragement and I lined up with my corral to start.

They release each corral about 2 minutes apart as to not clog things up. So, it was about 25 minutes before my corral got up to start. I was still OK. We got the signal to go and off we went! Everything was good. The only issue was people had gotten in corrals that were meant for faster people and we ended up having to slow down and ultimately dodge them. There were even walkers in front of us (which should never happen). We ran through down and past the Mississippi riverfront. Then, we ran down Beale Street. Donna was there and I waved and gave her the thumbs up that I was still fine.

After that, we turned and headed for the actual St Jude property. On the way, there were all sorts of young people entertaining us with singing and music. Running through the St Jude Campus is amazing. A lot of the kids and parents are out there high fiving you as you run through. It's hard not to get a lump in your throat when you see them holding up signs saying "I'm a Survivor thanks to you" or "I'm alive because of you". There was a lot of parents holding up signs thanking you for helping their kids. If that doesn't encourage you, nothing can. The race has fabulous encouragement all the way through. Even the policemen and women doing traffic control shout out encouragement all the way.

The first 13 miles went well. My pacer went a bit too fast though. He was supposed to do about a 11:49 mile and he did about 11:29. I did fine though. At about the 12.5 mile mark, the half marathon's head for Auto Zone park to finish and the crowd thins out. You loop back through Beale Street again. Donna was there again and I gave her the thumbs up to let her know I was fine. Now, you head out to the Fairgrounds (which I remembered from seeing UK's Liberty Bowl victory in person there a few years ago). Things started to get rougher and as I knew it would, my pace slowed. I had one more ace up my sleeve. Kentucky was playing North Carolina and I was able to listen to it. That got me through the next 8 miles. I am sure people thought something was wrong with me as I kept yelling and grimacing as I ran. I walked through the water stations as I drank powerade and water each time. I had a packet of GU each five miles. The encouragers were still there though and it helped a lot. I crossed the 20 mile barrier and was still OK. I kept up fine. At mile 24, a lady and her son had pretzels and Dixie cups of coke. That gave me a nice little boost and I knew I could make it. I got to mile 25 and I knew I'd make if I had to crawl.

Right before you get to Autozone ball park, you have to climb a ramp. I made it fine though and I knew it was downhill into the stadium. I was able to pick up my pace and run in just fine. There were plenty of cheering people there and I held up my arms in celebration as I ran around the warning track and across the finish! I had done it! I looked at my sports watch and saw I'd run a 5:32 time. I was very pleased with that. I got my medal and looked for Donna. She hugged me and told me how proud she was of me. She said how impressed she was with how strong I looked at the finish. They had a food area and I went through grabbing all sorts of things to eat as I walked. They even had Krispy Kremes so I had to grab a few and eat them as we walked back to the hotel. My legs were tired, but I had no pain. When I took off my shoes, I had no blisters or black toenails. My knees were fine too. I went back to the hotel and spent the rest of evening resting. I did manage to get up about five and walk a block with Donna to get burgers at Dyer's. I felt OK the next morning and we headed for home. We worshiped with the brethren at Hayti church of Christ (who were very friendly) and got home about 2pm.

I still have the glow of this accomplishment. I finished and I didn't finish last in my age group or overall. I had set a goal and made it. If a fifty year old man can run his first marathon and finish, you should be encouraged to set a goal for something you've always wanted to do and pull it off.

Bob Forsch

I got an email from Donna last week with bad news. She mentioned she had seen where Bob Forsch had died. She remembered that he was the person who threw out the first pitch of the seventh game of the World Series. I remember thinking how fit he looked, you'd have thought he could throw a few innings if need be that night.

1974 was the first year I was really into the Cardinals. It was exciting year with Lou Brock chasing Maury Wills stolen base record. The Cardinals pitching staff was not that good. Bob Gibson was fading. Off season pickup Lynn McGlothen started fast at 12-3 and even pitched in the All-Star game but faded as the season wore on. Veterans like Alan Foster and Sonny Seibert weren't pitching well either. In mid season, the Cardinals brought up a young rookie named Bob Forsch. He pitched well for the Cardinals and they just missed winning the NL East that year.

Bob anchored the Cardinals staff for the next 14 seasons. He won 20 games in 1977. He pitched two no-hitters. They were the only two thrown in that Busch Stadium and he's the only Cardinal pitcher to throw 2. I remember listening to the first one in 1977 (vs the Phillies). I didn't know about the 2nd one in 1983 until somebody told me at work about it. I worked in Louisville and they didn't cover the Cardinals like back home. He pitched in three World Series. Bob Forsch was one of my favorite Cardinals.

I imagine Bob Forsch was on top of the world after throwing out that first pitch in Game 7 and then watching his Cardinals win the World Series. He never dreamed what would happen to him in a week. He never would have thought his old manager (Whitey Herzog) or Cardinal great Stan Musial would outlive him. This just shows how fleeting life can be.

Run for the Border...

Donna and I were at the church building working to get all the powerpoint slides (songs and lessons) ready for the Central Ladies Day. Jonathan was there mowing. After we got done, we decided to grab something for dinner. After some discussion, we decided to go Taco Bell.

Taco Bell is one of our favorite Sunday after church food destinations. They give discounts on tacos on Sunday and cleverly call this Taco Sunday. I usually think of Taco Bell as the epitome of inexpensive food. We ordered a standard amount of food and I was a bit surprised to find that our total was over 18.00. I started looking and found that tacos were now 1.09 apiece. They even had some burrito value meals that were more than 8.00! It's funny how you get certain things stuck in your head for years about what things should cost. For example. it took me a long time to not think a hotel room that cost more than 100.00 a night wasn't outrageous. This doesn't mean that we won't ever go back but I'll certainly give it more thought next time.

We did go to the Dollar Tree to grab some candy for dessert. Jonathan and I had fun playing with the cheap toys. I grabbed a light saber and held it to his face saying (of course) "Luke, I am your father". We also played with the plastic armor (which was of course too small for us). We finally got back to the church building. April had just arrived from college and of course Jonathan abandoned us immediately.

Time..

I see this commercial quite often during my daily dose of Daniel Boone on Retro TV and I really like it.



Because we have the two best sons there are, I am often asked "What advice do you have about being a good dad?" (as if I am actually a good dad). Anyway, one of the things I'll say is "Spend as much time with your kids as you can". This commercial reminds me that it doesn't have to being doing what seems "really cool stuff". Just hanging out with your kids is something they'll enjoy and it helps build that strong bond that will last.

I Left My Heart...in Ballard County

I'm reposting this from three years ago in honor of the day..

Monday September 15th was the 24th anniversary of a day that set my life (happily) on a drastic change.

I was a fledging programmer at what was called Martin Marietta then (now USEC) and living in an apartment in Forest Hills. I had gone over to my buddy Jeff Lawrence's trailer (known to this area as Dr. Jeff on WKYQ). He asked if I had plans for the next evening. I said no thinking we were going to have one of our regular marathon Trivial Pursuit matches. He says "Well, you've got a date". I was aghast. "I've set you up with someone I work with at Trader's Mart" (Trader's Mart is a long defunct want-ad kind of paper). He told me I had to go because I wouldn't be allowed to hang out at his place the next night so I reluctantly agreed.

The next day, I went with my friends Keith "Corky" Johnson and Jim Hill to Massac State Park. I sat on the bank of the Ohio River looking and thinking "What kind of idiot goes out with a girl he's never seen before?".

The hour approached and I headed out to meet her at Trader's Mart in my 1983 Trans-Am. All I knew is her name was Donna Woods and she'd be in a black Olds Cutlass.

I got there and the car was there. I watched the door open with apprehension. Out stepped the most beautiful brown haired brown-eyed girl I'd ever seen. I almost couldn't speak. I finally said "I'm Stuart, do you want to see my driver's license to prove it?". She actually laughed at my bad joke.

She wanted to go to McDonalds and eat so we did. She had a quarter pounder with cheese and I had a Big Mac. I saw some guys I knew and I think they were in shock when they saw me out with this beautiful girl.

She wanted to see Grandview USA at the Paducah Drive-In. I was glad to go there since I worked there for years each summer until I started working full-time at Martin Marietta. My boss (who recently passed away) Richard Phillips was at the ticket booth. I guess he was so shocked to see with such a pretty date that he let us in free. He also told me to go to the concession stand and get free drinks and popcorn. Donna told me later how impressed she was when I brought out drinks and a large brown bag full of buttered popcorn.

The whole date cost 5.00 (including gasoline). She even shared my frugality beliefs! I was enthralled...

The night went great and she even agreed to see me again.

The next morning as I was getting ready to go to church, my phone rang. The caller introduced himself as the "Ballard County Sheriff" and he needed to talk to me about an incident last night. The girl I had gone out with was from Ballard County. My main experiences with Ballard County were to go to the "Game Preserve" (as my Uncle James called it) to camp with my family and a visit to the "Green Palace" (which was really really Green) to watch Lone Oak play in a district basketball tournament. I remember all the kids there blew duck calls the whole game. Anyway, I thought "Oh man, she didn't make it home and now I am the last one to see her and the main suspect". It turned out that they had picked up a couple of guys I know as they came off the Wickliffe bridge and they wanted me to vouch for their idenities.

For reasons I'll never understand, she kept going out with me. We've been married 22 years. She still laughs at my bad jokes. I've worked at "Martin Marietta" for almost 25 years. We drove that black Olds Cutlass til it wouldn't run any more. I've lived in Ballard County for 16 years now. I still order a Big Mac when I go to McDonalds. And I couldn't be happier....

Ugly in Nashville..

When we found out last year that Western Kentucky's game with Kentucky would be played at LP Field in Nashville, Jonathan and I figured we would go. We knew we could easily get there in a coupleof hours. When schedule came out, we saw the game was on Thursday instead of Saturday. Jonathan doesn't have class on Friday and I knew I could take vacation so we decided we'd still go. The game time was 8:15pm which was late, but was OK for us. When the tickets went on sale, I went ahead and bought us club seats. I knew it was going to be hot on the first day of September, so I wanted us to be able to go into an air conditioned area if need be. I bought a parking pass for one of the LP lots as well.

As the time got closer to the date of the game, I kept hearing that ticket were not good. The hope was 45,000 but it looked like 30,000 was the best they'd draw. I picked up Jonathan at WKCTC and we headed out. We stopped at Zaxby's for dinner in Clarksville. We got to the stadium with no problem. The crowd was low. We had no trouble parking. We got into to the club level and it was great. The area was air conditioned. There were numerous TVs showing various football games. We were on the front row of the club section on the 10 yard line, so our view was great.

The game started and it wasn't so great. UK got the ball first and was stuffed and went three and out. Neither team could do much. All I'd heard all summer was how great the UK offensive line looked and how much better QB Morgan Newton looked. Neither was apparent here. UK couldn't do anything on offense. They had 35 total yards in the first half. A Newton interception set up a WKU field goal. The WKU QB Jakes was just as bad. His interception set up the only decent run by UK (by freshman Josh Clemens) for a TD. UK somehow lead 7-3 at the half. The lower half of the stadium wasn't even full. The whole place just seemed dead

The half time was nice. The Club area had plenty of cushioned chairs and couches. Jonathan and I had a seat and watched Louisville finish off Murray State 21-9. There was much complaining by the UK faithful. I was tempted to ask Mitch Barnhardt for a refund myself :-).

The second half wasn't much better. Morgan Newton litterally sacked himself bringing many groans from the UK faithful. He threw two more interceptions. The UK defense kept holding WKU off. Ryan Tylachka kept getting off great punts to bail UK out. The game was still 7-3 heading into the fourth quarter and we were worried. Finally, with about 6 minutes to go, UK made a couple of big plays. Morgan Newton took off on a scramble and ran for 58 yards. A couple of plays later, he made a beautiful pass to La'rod King for a touchdown. We felt a lot better with a 14-3 lead. UK's defense kept up the heat and UK ended up with a very fortunate win.

The attendence was 24,000. There would have been that many at a UK-WKU basketball game in Rupp Arena. WKU needs to do whatever it takes to get this game played on a Saturday when UK and WKU play again in 2013. MTSU has first rights to the field and would have to give permission. A lot of people including me are very discouraged about UK football now. If UK plays like this, they'll be lucky to win more than two more games (including probable losses to Louisville, Vandy, and UT for 27th straight time). The defense played well, but I don't know if they can do that against an SEC team. We'll see how things go against Central Michigan at home next week.

Crown Me..

Several weeks ago, I started experiencing pain in one of my teeth. I kept thinking it would go away (for some reason). It kept getting worse. I started feeling it even when I ran. So, I asked Donna to call our Dentist's office (White and White Family Dentistry). I went on to work since I presumed that it would it would be several days before they could squeeze me in. I got a call from Donna at 8:25am saying that they could see me at 9 if I could make it. Of course, I said "Yes" and headed out.

Dr. Kelvin White tried various things to try and figure out what the issue was. I was sure which tooth it was. He did an x-ray and it turned out the tooth next to it was fractured. I presumed I would have to come back the next day. Even though Dr. Kelvin was very busy (Dr. Dustin Hall wasn't there), he said that I should stay and he'd take care of it. I would need a crown. I was even able to get a quote on the spot as to how much I would have to pay (after insurance), I didn't even have to leave the dentist's chair. Dr. Kelvin spent the next couple of hours running between breaks of other patients do all the work to get my tooth ready for the crown, take an impression for the permanent crown, and put on a temporary crown. Dr. Kelvin and his assistant kept apologizing for taking so long. I was so grateful for them working so hard to take of me as quickly as they could. I went back to work after I was done.

The next day I went in to work, but by mid-day, I was hurting pretty bad. Dr. Kelvin had thought this might happen so he'd given me a prescription for pain-killers and an antibiotic. Donna filled those for me and I came home and took them. After a couple of days, all the pain was gone. During those next weeks, I had to be careful not to crunch anything hard on the temporary crown and to be careful when flossing. I had no problems at all.

I went back a couple of days ago for the permanent crown. I expected some pain when the temporary one was removed. Literally before I could think about it, Shae said "OK it's off". In less than thirty minutes, Dr. White and her had my new crown on and I was on my way. I had to wait a few hours to eat, so I had a chocolate milkshake for lunch. As always, Dr. White and his staff took great care of me.