December 21, 2009
Monday. I wake up at 5:15 AM. I feel good and I am happy that I laid out my running gear the night before. It is cold outside, 31 degrees. I have my long running pants, under armor, and two technical shirts. I also have a really cool running hat and gloves. I am excited to get out there and run. It has been over a week since the race and I have been itching to get out there and put a run together.
Meeting Jay we planned on a easy 6 mile run. As always we goo out too fast. What a laugh. You’d think we have learned with the results from the marathon. We do back it down, though it does not matter, by mile 3-4 all the hot spots that hurting during the race come flaring back up. Not a surprise. We likely should have only ran a couple of miles. By the end of the run, we are done.
Amazing how much a 26.2 mile run destroys the fitness built over 4 months. Over the next several weeks I will gradually build back the fitness with a greater emphasis on speed.
Monday is jammed with calls though it is my day off. Oh well. The afternoon I visit my cousin and the evening we have a Christmas party downtown. The party is fun and the view from the tenth floor over looking the city is fantastic. Afterward we head for dinner. It too is great, Six Feet Under a favorite of ours. On the way home, we turn on the radio to listen to the Giants game as we drive. IT IS NOT ON THE RADIO, and I forgot my satellite radio. Rats. No problem, I call brother Dave and he give us a play by play while we are driving. The Giants look great and I enjoy the game sitting on the couch with Jack and Wil. Good stuff.
Tomorrow I will swim and also work on a painting. I need to start painting again.
December 20, 2009
Sunday. Enjoying the time with Kim’s family. We relax and spend time just hanging around. Nothing outstanding, but the day goes by. We pile in the car for our 3 hour ride home. It too goes by quickly as we listen to football on the radio. At home we head for pizza a salad. We are all in bed early as the Viking do nothing against the Panthers and lose in the fourth quarter.
December 19, 2009
Saturday. GAME DAY! It is one week past the race. I am still smiling, that little personal victory will stay with me for years. I gather the family and we decide to head to Mel’s for breakfast. I load up knowing that it might likely be the only thing I eat this day. Earlier we decided we would head out to August for a family party after the game.
Breakfast done, we head home and get ready for Jack’s game. We get there early and run through our plays. I had planned on putting our kicking game together on Friday. With Friday rained out, we are putting some last minute play detail together on Saturday just before the start of the game.
It is the first game of the season. The boys are nervous. I tell them good, you are supposed to be. We line up and one and win the coin toss. The one co-captain yells out “defer” before I can say a word. “What” I yell no… not defer. I override the decision, “We’ll take the ball”. As we are walking to the sideline I ask what are you thinking… “That’s what I do in Madden 10” he tells me. I laugh.
The boys are lined up and the ball kicked, game on! Our first series stalls, we make a number of mistakes and turn the ball over. It is deep in our territory, but I refused to punt and put it on the defense to raise to the occasion. The opposing team, the Bengals, have a few good plays include a great passing play to a girl on their team. She is good and as tall as our tallest kid. She is easily one of the top players on that team. The good pass is followed by a good run and the Bengals are on the move. I mix up the line a bit and call out a few players to adjust their play. They are seeing the ball, but not taking the right angles. The adjustments work and force them to turn it over on downs. Between the downs one of the boys asked me, “how do the block the girls without hitting her in the “boobs” coach” Uh… Just block her. I really had not thought about it, but I tell them to hit the opponent right in the chest. I say aim a little higher. Okay.
With the ball in our hand the “jitters” gone, the boys march down the field. We have a thirds and long and I bring out a trick play, “The Bomb” We shift the left running back to the right end of the line. The ball is pitched to the right running back. It looks like a sweep, while he is moving, the tight end releases down field, uncovered, and the running back picks up his block. The ball is launched and caught. It takes us to the one yard line. I call a power shift center and Jack punches it in for a touchdown! We go for two, a power shift right, we have the left end release. Jack rolls to the left, the linebacker is forced to cover two people, he goes for Jack and leaves the end. Jack throws it over the defender, 2 points!
We end out with 4 touchdowns, and a safety! The score 30 – 0, the boys played well, Jack went 6 for 8 and scored two touchdowns.
We start the season with a win and the boys are excited. It is a long season though.
At home we pack our bags and head off for a family party with Kim’s family in Augusta. It is a party, Kim’s dad and others brought their guitars and put on a show. Cool.
A good day, start to finish.
December 18, 2009
Friday. Another day of sleeping in… well not really, I am up again at 5:00 AM. Jack has his big school project, the desktop store front. The desktop store front is a business project, the kids must develop a project, write a business plan, and operate the store. Jack decided to make “designer t-shirts” and sell them to his classmates. I was pleased with his business skills, he had a few challenges; 1) he knew that the kids really would not spend more than $5, 2) he knew that the shirts cost $10 to make. With those hurdles, he decided to find a sponsor. HomeTown Mortgage read the business plan and cut Jack a check. I was impressed he negotiated a business deal and cut his cost by 50%. Next he worked with the printer and negotiated the first 5 shirts for free… now his cost was $50. He did well. The shirts looked great too. I dropped Jack off at school and his store top looked good. I wished him well, but with 60 other store fronts I told him not to get his hopes too high, that he might sell a few shirts, but no matter what I was proud of all the work he had done. Back home I took care of meetings and email and at 11:00 I was to return to the school to pick up the remaining merchandise from the store. I walked in to the cafeteria and Jack was hanging with his buddies. I asked, “how’d it go”. “Sold out”. Jack sold out within an hour! There were 21 kids out there wearing the various shirts that Jack designed.
I picked up the gear congratulated him and drove off with a smile on my face, brimming with pride. Kim and I talked about it during our weekly lunch date.
The rain has been coming down and it caused me to cancel practice. I am happy that I had my “volunteer” practice on Wednesday. Saturday we will just go with what we have that day.
A few of the families on the team decide to head out for Pizza. We return to our house for a few drinks and cookies. The evening runs into late night. I think it was 1:00 AM when I finally go to bed. A fun and successful day.
December 17, 2009
Thursday. It is official, I really am bored. I considered the idea of swimming this morning, but with all the work that piled up last week and knowing that I am off the next two weeks, well, I am essentially, jamming all this work into one week. The day is highlighted with William’s class holiday party. We have a blast and I enjoy reading to the class. The rest of the day slips by uneventfully. Sometimes that is a good thing.
No comments:
Post a Comment