Newfangled Dad

My alarm was supposed to go off at 4:30am yesterday morning so I could be on the 5am first train to the Loop. The plan was to get in my 4 mile run along the river downtown, the lakefront, then double back to the site of the ITU Chicago race. But a round of our recently-frequent thunderstorms was pounding my window at 4:30 so I hit snooze and got up an hour later. By that time, the sun was poking out of the clouds. I got a humid, muggy run in from the Loop to Oak Street Beach then ran back down to Buckingham Fountain where the race was going on.  Aside from the inability to get enough training time in for these early-season races, I knew from the first announcement that I wouldn't race at ITU. Much like the Chicago Triathlon later in the summer...big city, crowded, expensive races do not appeal to me so much. (Neither do I want to do an unorganized, small, local race...happy medium is the way to go if you ask me.) They're a spectacle--which can be fun--but especially for tria...

I admit, my ongoing "dark history" posts have been surprisingly popular (to me). Chronicling the unknown, weird, and twisted sides of popular folk songs is not a hobby for me...more like a curious bit of history I have mild interest in.  So when a friend suggested I do a little on "The Star Spangled Banner," I told her there was too much there to tackle. Though I love the story...the boat, the harbor, the poem, putting it to old music, not having a National Anthem and the debate over what it should be. But I did begin to think about what my next post should be.  Given all the hoopla over the Washington Redskins NFL controversy lately, I thought this might be a good time--Independence Day--to remind Americans that one of our most beloved nicknames for ourselves is actually mocking us. (Though don't tell a Southerner that "Yankee" is a beloved nickname. They mostly mutter it under their breath at Northerners.) Yes, the New York Yankees are a big j...

When I left the house last night, I'd applied sunscreen, put on my prescription sunglasses, and appropriately chilled my Fuel Belt bottles because it was sticky humid with a hot sun beating down. It was the first workout of my being back to focusing on running. Not quite yet "on plan" with marathon training, but close since that starts next week. I'd decided I was doing 8 miles though I was debating in my head about that at mile 2 when it ended up being hotter than I expected and I'd already gone through my Nuun. At about Mile 3, where I usually turn around if I'm doing a 10k run, it got cloudy and the thunder started quietly rumbling. So I was debating in my head what to do. Because of the route I take, if I continued onto Mile 4, I'd be 2 miles from home...or I could turn around and make it and "out and back" to get the full 8 miles if it wasn't raining. At my current location, it would be 3 miles to home. In essence, I was at exactly the...

The Mama mocks me all the time for my decision making because it is both a strength and a weakness. I'm not one to simply choose out of thin air. Whether it's what phone I'm buying or what race I'm doing, I'm more the type to make a "pros" and "cons" chart, research completely...and, rest assured, it will take some time. But I usually enjoy the process. It's not uncommon for her to include in whatever gift she wants to give me some built-in planning time that she knows I'll need/want. It's like enjoying the vacation planning almost as much as laying on the beach. 51 weeks of dreaming about sunshine almost outweighs the one week of sunburn, insect bites, and dehydration in the real sun. As some of you may recall from previous posts, I've struggled again with my race calendar this season. Last summer was supposed to be a relaxing, light, race-free schedule of one first-time triathlon before I tackled Ironman Wisconsin this Septemb...

Very well-meaning guy at the grocery today. A bit older. Maybe he was lonely and just wanted someone to talk to? Maybe he was just trying to be friendly. (Hey, hey we're the Monkees!) Maybe he was trying to comment on the kids more than me. Starts to give me the "looks like you've got your little helpers today" speech. But it had...that tone. The tone where you've tried to be subtle and open up a dialogue about the ongoing situation. I know it's partly generational. What is it about my generation that makes us refrain from speaking to strangers in public places? We don't strike up small talk in line at the checkout the same way others do. Standing there trapped in the produce aisle trying to pick nectarines. I wanted to reply "they kinda never leave my side so today's not that special." But I just did the smile and nod. A little resentful that a man with 2 preschoolers in a shopping cart looks noteworthy though. Maybe he would have said...

There's something about walking into our bathroom (or, in the case of some triathletes, opening your car trunk) and seeing a wetsuit there drying. It's a very specific--to me, pleasant--unnatural neoprene smell. It smells like summer and activity. I love how the sand looks if you haven't washed it out like you're supposed to...like the suit "went somewhere." The Mama saw the wetsuit hanging there post-swim and said it made her happy to see it getting some use. We often talk about how things are meant to be put to intended function. Cars are meant to be driven. Toys are meant to be played. Bicycles are meant for riding. I was one of only a couple people in our group wearing a sleeveless. Everybody else had on full sleeves. It's currently all I own as I'm in the market for sleeves, as it were. For those who think this whole idea sounds crazy, Lake Michigan is already up to 62.6 degrees around downtown Chicago. I definitely wanted those sleeves at first...

It's my blog and I'll post if I want to. Today's double-post is going to mostly now take the form of a triathlon geek complaint about race scheduling. At least it's lighter fare than my earlier, profound thoughts on fatherhood. Not that I had even signed up the race yet. Not that it was even going to be my goal race. But I didn't realize how much I was looking forward to this little sprint triathlon until I found out I wouldn't be doing it. Something about permits being pulled. It was a first-year race anyway. And everybody knows to be wary about an inaugural, untested event. I was going to give it a try...it was cheap, it fit perfectly mid-summer on my calendar, it wasn't far away, it was small. It was my one nod to triathlon this season. Not a huge, monumental thing to train for and achieve. Not anything overly difficult. Nothing to get too nervous about. Just a sprint. It was going to be a nice way for me to get my fix of swim-bike-run to stay conne...