Track Practice

My rehab is successfully underway! I am running again, albeit slowly and briefly. But I did go to the track with my brother Thursday afternoon. He ran a sprint workout while I jogged around the outside of the track, doing my best to minimize impact and hold a smooth form. And I'm pleased to announce that I completed a mile with no greetings from the ghosts of my shin splints. It'll be a long time before I'll consider myself cured, but I'm feeling good about where I stand at the moment.

Thanks to my brother's generosity, I spent the rest of the evening enjoying a wonderful evening at Coors Field. Well...the evening was wonderful, but the Rockies didn't give us much to cheer about. Still, if you ask me -- pretty much any hours at the ballpark have to be counted on the plus side of life's ledger.

I'll provide updates as my reentry into the world of fitness and real life continues. In the meantime, here's a brief history of the trip to Kansas:

It was the first time Tanner and I had flown together. We've spent countless hours together in a car, but had never before shared an airplane flight. I enjoyed that part of it, but otherwise, the flight to Kansas City was pretty routine. I had ordered a rental car with a GPS system, and was looking forward to how much easier that device would make our navigation. We had arranged to meet my Wichita Swim Club friend Ben Wagoner for lunch, and Ben was kind enough to phone us with directions on how to meet, so the GPS didn't come into play right away.

Groovy Ben was one of the toughest swimmers I've ever known. (You'll have to buy my next book to hear the complete tale of how he got tagged with that nickname, and why it stuck.) Ben could always be counted on to work hard and practice and give it his all in competition. Nothing was ever handed to Groovy Ben; I think it was his competitive focus that helped him surpass some very talented swimmers to earn his championships. It was good to catch up with him, and I'm glad he took the time to meet us for lunch.

I think I left my jacket at the restaurant, though, which was a bummer. Anyway, Ben had to get back to work, so Tanner and I turned on the GPS and headed for our motel. It surprised me to learn that I'm probably better at following a map than I am listening to some voice coming out of a little box on the dashboard. It sounded like a great plan to let technology guide us...but the GPS was a little slow. It kept saying things like "Dude, you were supposed to turn back there. Try the next stree...oops, too late, you passed it again. I'm totally lost, man."

I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. It knew where we were going, and was reasonably good about figuring out where we were, but it wasn't quick enough. I'd rather have Tanner look at the map and say "Turn right at the Burger King" than hear the box lady say "Turn right on west seventy sixth street in two meters. Recalculating."

We turned in the rental car that evening and bummed rides for the rest of the trip. Pat picked us up at the motel and took us to our niece's graduation dinner. Julie had earned her Masters Degree in Occupational Therapy, and had invited a bunch of friends and relatives to a celebratory meal on the Plaza.

It was a delicious dinner, and everyone behaved themselves. (Even Tanner, more or less.) Julie was very proud of overcoming the family shame of having parents who went to Kansas State and finally getting a diploma with "KU" written on it. From now on, I suspect she'll always introduce herself as "Jayhawk Julie".

When Julie's dad first starting dating my sister, our two families started hanging out with each other. This was fine with me, since Mike's parents were very cool and always nice to me...and I'd had a crush on his sister Lisa since about the 2nd grade. As a show of support for Mike and Cindy's budding romance, Lisa and I decided to bake a birthday cake for Mike's mom. Since I was an expert and adventurous cook (even back then), Lisa and I decided to go well beyond the standard 3 layers. The details of this feat of baking have become fuzzy over time, so Lisa and I had fun trying to remember exactly how many layers (and what flavors) we ended up with. The only thing that's certain is that the final product was so tall that it refused to maintain verticality long enough to deliver it to the birthday girl. When finally presented to Blanche, our masterpiece had numerous fingerprints in the icing from where we kept pushing it upright as it oozed into a Piza lean.

Tanner listened to part of this conversation. It's no wonder he thinks his dad is a bit weird. Oh well.


Julie's actual "walkin' across the stage" ceremony took place the next morning, and everyone cheered loudly and tried not to laugh at the funny hats.

The rest of the trip included adventures I won't recount here. Olathe, Kansas features a great mall (at least that's how it's advertised...I didn't actually go inside). The Kansas Turnpike features abundant greenery and endless vistas of cheerful cattle. Wichita features a bounty of oppressive heat and humidity. And the drive across I-70 back to Denver is...well, it's an experience that really makes you appreciate your return to the shadow of the foothills.

Anyway, congratulations, Julie, and thanks for inviting us to share in your graduation. We're all proud of you, and hope to see you again soon!