Monday a.m.

I really need to come up with more creative titles for my blog posts. Oh well... Good morning! It's going to be a nice, mild day. How are you adjusting to the time change? I woke up this morning at 3 a.m. and resisted, for about an hour, the strong urge to get up. I finally fell back to sleep and actually stayed in bed until my usual 5:15, which is really 6:15 body time, which means, in essence, I slept in! ha ha

I thought I would be in Houston this morning, getting ready to cross over into Mexico later today, but here I am in southern Indiana. I don't know what's going to happen with the ambulance for Honduras, but I will let you know when I know. In the meantime, life goes on! 

Yesterday sure was a nice day! Church went will, or at least I thought it did. I guess you would have to ask others to really find out. We had a nice family meal, I watched the Colts and then fell asleep, then I realized that I had recorded a 2 hour special on the New York City Marathon. I cued that up and started watching.

While I was watching I got on the computer to check the results of Bill Deckard and Jim Sowders and Leisa Deckard.  The NYCM had a cool tracking system that posted times for each mile. I followed Leisa "live" as she ran. Bill and Jim had already finished. They had a good day but did not meet their goal of running 3:08. Leisa ran a little over 5 hours and raised a lot of money for cancer research. She did a great job.

Today is a day to get organized again. I woke up at 3 with the Give Thanks 4 race on my mind. I think I have everything pretty well in place, but I need to look at it all again. It's 2 weeks from Thursday. The biggest thing is getting about 30 volunteers all confirmed and assigned. Darrin already has the T-shirts and trophies on order.

Gonna take a trip to Bloomington today. I plan to have lunch with Pat A. I can always use his wise counsel. Then I've got a few things to do in Bloomington. I need to get an easy 5 miler in and few other odds and ends.

Need to complete my "to do" list... Catch you later...

Monumental Day

So, we "fell back" over night? All that means for me is that I got up a little after 4 instead of a little after 5. It will take me a few days to get my body swung around. I think I have a harder time with the fall than I do the spring. Oh well...  The challenge for me this week will be staying up past the 9 p.m. Go ahead and laugh! It's OK.

Yesterday was the Monumental Marathon and half marathon. I ran the half as a hard training run and was pretty pleased with it. I ran with Tim Strunk, Mark  Ryan, and Lester my son, who was a bandit yesterday (did not enter the race). We had a nice time and stayed right around an 8 minute mile pace, which is exactly where I wanted to be. The weather, with the exception of the wind, was just about perfect for distance running.

There were two highlights of the day. First, Tim Galloway--a friend and frequent training partner--had an awesome half. He ran 1.33.56 and won his age group! He's had a great fall of training and racing. The other highlight was Rand Hammel. He ran 3.32.17 and qualified for Boston! We drove out and found him at mile 21. He looked good, and I thought he would qualify. It was awesome watching him come in! It brought back lots of memories from last year.

We had a nice time with Lester and Maddie Friday night and yesterday. After watching Rand finish and congratulating him, we walked downtown to PF Changs for a nice meal. It was a good way to finish our time in Indy.

My focus now is the Boston Marathon. Last night I started experimenting with a training plan. I am going to "officially" start training the first week in December. I hope to run 3.30 at Boston, which is a huge goal, due to my age and difficulty of the course. I am going to work hard toward the goal and see what happens.

The Last Pick

I recently read this book by David McGillivray. He is the director of the Boston Marathon and has been for quite a while. I am slowing saturating myself with all things Boston. I hope to know the course and culture very well before I arrive in April of next year.

I found the book pretty interesting. I liked what he said about the marathon serving as a metaphor for life:

The marathon is an ideal metaphor for my life. It's challenging and difficult, but if you work hard and you're prepared, then it's manageable. I've run on that asphalt through heartache and also spent hours running alongside some incredible people. There are hills and valleys. The weather changes from year to year. Mostly, though, at the end of the day, it's up to me to get the job done.

Friday

Hoosier Uplands

Good morning! I guess you know that it's Friday, which seems to be a big deal for a lot of people. It means for me, this week, a day to get ready for Sunday. I didn't get finished yesterday, due a couple of meetings and lots of other things.

St. Vincent Dunn Hospital

The biggest news, which is not finalized yet, is that I may not be driving the ambulance to Honduras. I am waiting on more information. Yes, I will be disappointed if I don't get to do that, but the main thing is getting it there and in use. This whole thing has been a real test of patience. So far so good...

I had two meetings yesterday. The first one was Hoosier Uplands Hospice Professional Advisory Board. I've been on this board for years and enjoy going back to Hoosier Uplands to hear about where they are with the hospice program. Back in the mid 90s, I was one of people commissioned to begin the program, and I was heavily involved in it until I left in 1998. The program has done really well over the years and remains strong. Yesterday I got to the doctor who helped us in our start up. He is such a good man -- Dr. Luke M.

The other meeting was at St. Vincent Dunn Hospital. I am serving on their ethics committee. I really enjoy this group. It's made up of several hospital folks (docs, nurses, chaplain), a lawyer, and me. It is a fairly new committee designed to help the hospital align itself with applied Catholic theology related to life and death. We are working through processes, and we get to do some case studies as well.

While there yesterday, I ran into one of the chaplains, and he said, "Oh, you're here to see one of your members?" I said, "No, I am here for a meeting." Awkward silence. "Should I be here to see someone?" Then I quickly added, laughing, "I know you can't tell me that." He smiled and said, "You may want to do some checking." Confidentially laws surrounding health care probably rival the secrecy of nuclear technology. I did finally figure out who was in the hospital and made the visit.

Today I am headed to Indy for the Monumental Half Marathon. I plan to run with a group tomorrow, having lost my motivation to really "bust" it. I am a little more relaxed now, knowing that I'm not driving to Honduras on Sunday. We have several participating tomorrow, including one guy who is trying to qualify for Boston. Wow, that brings back memories, because it was a year ago that I did just that.

Thursday morning

Good morning! Have you seen the radar? Wow, looks like we could have a bit of wet day ahead. I like the rain, so I'm good. Well, the ambulance run has been postponed, due to Marc Tindall's wife having emergency surgery this week. She's recovering well - that's the main thing. I have a feeling there are going to be lots of phone calls and correspondence today. I will keep you posted. Flexible. That's the word. Flexible.

Wasn't yesterday a beautiful day? I started my day in Bryantsville. We loaded a semi with pallets of corn. I believe each pallet has around 30 bags on it, and the bags weigh roughly 60 pounds each. So how many pounds on a pallet? (Stop whining about story problems!) That's right, about 1800 pounds per pallet, which is close to a ton. I weigh, depending on the day and hydration levels, between 155 and 159. Do you see where this is going?

When I arrive at Bryantsville, I discover that I am the youngest guy there by far. I am 52 (for a few more days). The hardest job of the day is ramming a pallet jack into the pallets and then, by hand of course, moving the pallet jack, loaded with the nearly 1 ton of corn on it, onto the semi, which includes going uphill over a little ramp. I think it was my first attempt that led to my downfall. Literally. The floor was slick and I am light and the pallets are not. I engaged one and tried to back it up. The next thing I know, I am on the hard concrete floor with tingly fingers. I had fallen--hard--on my elbow. It was embarrassing and painful. I had to have help getting up.

About that time, a hero walks in! A young man, a man of experience, a man capable of maneuvering a ton of material on a pallet jack. Earl Wilson. Earl loaded the load, while I, with my sore elbow and tingly fingers, wrapped the pallets with plastic. I am known as the rapper. Well, they probably mean wrapper, but I kinda like the edgier "rapper," which fits more my personality and singing ability.  Anyway, the load got loaded, my fingers returned to normal, and everything is fine.

The rest of the day was filled by all kinds of fun (ha ha). Speaking of fun, my class last night was good. We talked about suffering. I think we learned that "chicks dig scars." The women in the class were not so sure about that. I'm not sure I can work that phrase into the sermon, but I'll see if I can.

Maybe I will post some serious thoughts about suffering later on, as they develop and turn into words?

Wednesday a.m.

Good morning! Hey, it's going to be another beautiful day, so get out there and enjoy it one way or another! The picture above is from the back page of an old Bible of mine that I recently found. It is a tracing of my oldest son, Lester's, hand. It is dated August 20, 1989 and says below that, "Auckland, NZ, Morningside church. Lester was born in New Zealand on February 8, 1988, so he was about a year and a half old at the time. We must have been visiting with the Morningside church that day.

It sure brought back lots of memories. Now Lester is married, just about finished with pharmacy school, and will soon be employed. Indeed, life comes at you fast! I remember, back when our children were little, people saying, "They grow up so fast!" Now I find myself saying the same thing. Enjoy every minute of it.

Wow, this is turning into a fast-paced week! It seems like I have a lot more meetings and specific engagements than usual, plus I am preparing for the adventure of a lifetime. Speaking of that, I was able to successfully navigate my way through the license branch yesterday. I only had one challenge where I had to plead just a little. The employee asked another person and a supervisor, and they agreed with me. I got out of there as fast I could!

I saw a couple of people, ran 5 miles, studied, lunched with Kedra, hung out at the food pantry, had a Capstone Ministries meeting, picked up the ambulance from its super secret location where the machine guns were being mounted (kidding about the guns), took it home, put on the license plate, dropped it off at the mechanic, and enjoyed some chair/family time.

One of my favorite parts of yesterday, perhaps for even the whole year, was when a friend came by to see me. He brought me a book about the Boston marathon that he signed, along with one of the most famous runners of a whole generation, Bill Rogers. He saw Bill recently at a race on the East coast and asked him to sign the book for me. Bill Rogers, "Boston Billy," has been a hero of mine for a long time. This book is going to be a treasured possession. I am so grateful.

Today is going to be another busy one! I will spend a lot of the morning in Bryantsville. We are loading a semi with Bryantsville Hunger Relief Corn. This is our last load of the season. The new crop will soon be going into the bin, and we'll start all over again. I love this ministry! Also today, I need to start getting things together to drive the ambulance to Honduras. I am not going to take much, so I have to think through carefully what I need.

OK, I better get going... Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday a.m.

Good morning! It's going to be a beautiful day - just like yesterday, only warmer! Yesterday I became a viking for a couple of hours. This was inspired by Quince E. who gave me the hat you see pictured above. The annual costume run in Bedford provided the perfect opportunity to allow the hat to lead to the rest of the outfit, and thanks to ReGen and Penny, everything came together nicely.

Kedra helped dress me and then called for Ben to come and see. Ben, who rarely shows emotion and doesn't like it when I do anything that might embarrass him (he's 16, so the list is long), looked at me with a horrible look and said, "Don't do that." I did it anyway!

On my way to Bedford I stopped by to see Nadine, who needed some cheering up after a bad doctor's visit. It took her a little while to figure out the what and the who, and in the process her dog escaped. Oops! Anyway, the dog was rounded up, and Nadine told me that I was really, really ugly. I think that's good?

Running 5 miles through Bedford with the others pictured above was quite a fun experience. Blowing horns, waves, and comments. The funniest comments came from a bunch of kids who were dressed in the Emo/Goth style (their usual dress), sporting various body modifications. They liked what were doing; struck me as funny for some reason.

* * *

Thanks to your prayers, we now have all the papers for the ambulance signed. I will be the first in line at the license branch this morning. Hopefully I walk out of there with a license plate and a "speed title" on order. It should arrive no later than Saturday. I already have insurance lined up and a mechanic's visit scheduled. Now I need to concentrate on packing. I am taking very few things, so I can fly back standby without checking any bags.

We have 2 new prayer concerns related with this trip. The first is that title come back by Saturday, but the more important one relates to Marc Tindall's wife, Terri. She is having surgery this morning, possibly for a blocked intestine. Pray that things go well for her.

Today is going to be good, busy, fun day!