Heck of a summer (so far...)

Hey Cougar Fans!! It's been a few months since I posted last... primarily because I wasn't sure that anyone was reading these things and also because it's been fairly hectic. Well.. Pooky last night asked me why I wasn't posting and when I told her (see above) she said, "I do!" So if for no other reason than to entertain my bride of almost 28 years, LET'S CATCH UP!!!

Major Events:

In May, I joined the Pookster in the "Improved Peepers Club". We traveled north of the border (they're sooo polite up there!) to Coal Harbour (notice the spelling... HarBOUR) Eye Center (www.seewell.ca) where I placed the future of my vision into the hands of Dr. Steven Kirzner (yep that's him on the website) and the technology advances of PRK. Everything went splendidly and I really wasn't nervous until after he finished the first eye... then I started hyperventilating... "what if he just screwed up my right eye?? I should probably stop him from screwing up the left eye!?! What if this is some terrible mistake???!!! I may never be able to see my beautiful Pooky again!!! OH THE INHUMANITY OF IT ALL!!! STOP HIM BEFORE IT'S TOO LA- what? he's done.. Oh.. OK... never mind." And of course, everything has turned out just as I knew it would. My vision is getting better every day (except for the blasted presbyopia... pres·by·o·pi·a /ˌprɛzbiˈoʊpiə, ˌprɛs-/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prez-bee-oh-pee-uh, pres-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun Ophthalmology. farsightedness due to ciliary muscle weakness and loss of elasticity in the crystalline lens, also known as "just plain gettin' old!", ... Pookey loves that word) and I love having blue eyes instead of brown!"



In June, Legal Eagle Lexi and I actually fulfilled our life long (individual) dreams of running a half-marathon (that's 13.1 miles, folks) at the world famous 2008 Helvetia Half-Marathon. We drove down to Beaverton and our hotel on Friday afternoon and took a drive around the course. It was demoralizing... I was convinced that the miles in Oregon were a lot longer than the miles in Washington that Lexi and I had me measuring our progress by. I wanted to go home. I wanted to cry. I wanted to beat Lexi senseless for talking me into this stupid thing.

Helvetia is a rural community (I guess) on the edge of Portland/Hillsboro, Oregon. As my more experienced runner/Bro-in-Law Kelly T ("Thompson" for short) put it, "They don't call it Hillsboro for nuthin'..." (Kelly, his daughter Alison, and his son Eric, all marathon club members were running the course as well). The course started out in the "low country" meandering out and about for 5ish miles or so before turning ugly and becoming a 2 mile climb into what at the time seemed like the Swiss Alps. At mile 6ish we passed the Helvetia Tavern (for which the event is named) and at mile 7 we crested the top of the "peak", passing a church (for those who wanted to stop and offer a prayer of thanks for not having succumbed to a heart-attack or stroke) and a neighboring graveyard (for those not so lucky) and began the descent to thicker air and warmer weather... actually at the time that graveyard looked very VERY enticing... something about the thought of eternal REST!


At mile ten (somewhere around "H Hour + 3" I called Pookie on my I-phone (of COURSE I have an I-Phone... they're sooooo FUN!) to check in. She let me know that everyone (Thompsons and Lexi) had crossed the finish line. EXCELLENT. I was still "on plan/on schedule". If I came in last, then everyone else could feel good about NOT coming in last! (I'm such a giver... can you say "blessings in heaven" ?). I have to tell you, though, the last three miles were tough! Just when I thought I had it in the bag, the leg cramps started raising their ugly heads. At first I thought I should just slow down a bit, but then I realized I couldn't come up with a slower speed than what I was currently using (without slowing to a walk... which actually wasn't all that much slower than what I was doing) so I simply pressed on... dug deep... gutted it out... bit down hard... sniffed the pay-dirt... gave one for the Gipper... gave it all I had... you get the picture (I'm running out of sport euphemisms). I just didn't want to get beat by the last woman walker. They were crazy fast and already gaining on me; some had already passed me... one was actually carrying a cane!.. another was giving me verbal lessons on correct "walking technique" as she passed me ("Lead with your hips! Lead with your hips"). I said, "I'm not walking!! This is me RUNNING!!!" (oh the indignity). Anyway, long story short, I made it. I rounded that corner into the stadium (as most everyone else was packing up their cars and driving home). Oh the cheering... the clapping... pulling through the agony and experiencing the sweet sweet taste of success (in the form of a Helvetia Burger, yummy.. NOT!!). And thinking..."I will NEVER do this again!" Well, It's been four weeks since I ran that thing. It's been four weeks since I've run period. I need to get back out there... got that marathon in '09 to start training for!

Me 'n the Legal Eagle

Legal, Me, 'n Pookie

Kelly 1 and Kelly 2... can you guess which one is the marathoner??

The Dedication: on a more somber note, I must say that one of my inspirations for running this thing (besides to run with The Eagle.. who by the way literally took off after a half mile and left me on my own...) was to celebrate the life of my older sister and former nemesis, Kirsten (wife of Kelly T, aka Thompson the Marathoner). Years ago, she was the victim of a tragic accident which left her terribly disfigured physically and handicapped emotionally... You see we were both bouncing on our parents' bed (she was probably 7 and I was 5) and I fell back and head-butted her in the mouth. She cried like a little girl... 'cuz she was a little girl, and I cried like a five-year-old boy, 'cuz, well, I was a five-year-old boy who had just had his older sister bite a hunk of flesh and bone out of the back of his head... but enough about me... this is about Kirsten. Anyway, It was her birthday on the 14th of June (the same day as the half-marathon) and I knew that had she been able to, she would have wanted to join us. I should clarify that nothing about the bed bouncing incident in any way had anything to do with keeping her from running with us... she's just totally out of shape. Anyway... after she reminded me that the event was falling on her Birthday, I decided to dedicate the last three miles (the toughest miles) to her memory... Kirsten, those miles were for you. Happy Birthday dear Sister.



Kirsten in her younger years.... after she'd moved on from making me give her horsey back rides across the living room floor every Saturday morning 4 to 5 times without stopping before she'd let me watch the cartoons that I wanted to watch even though I'd gotten up and gotten to the TV first and CALLED DIBS!! (.... no I'm not bitter anymore...)

Yesterday, Okay... I'm getting tired of blogging and I know you're getting tired of blog-reading. But before we call it a night, I just want to show you what we ate last night...

(...the crabs, ... not Gina)

Pookie loves dem Dungeness Crabs!!!

Until the next post!.........