Month: September 2010

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A Pirate Looks at 50

PirateIMGToday I turn 50. It is a bit difficult to put that down on paper, or in this case to type it into my Live Writer software. 40 came and went with little fanfare, but this one has reminded me that I am halfway dead (I plan on living to 100 then going out in some fashion that would be considered scandalous for a 100 year old man).

I have been fortunate in many ways over the past 50 years. I have been able to provide a comfortable living for my family, I have been able to coach and attend my kids sporting events from pee wee soccer up through varsity competition, we have been to some amazing places together as a family, I have made some lasting friendships in high school, college and beyond and I even recently convinced my body to become a marathoner. I have a great wife and two amazing intelligent, funny talented children. I have three awesome brothers and two wonderful parents who are actively engaged with their grandchildren.

By all standards life is good. So why does it bother me? I’m not 100% sure but it may be because there are now less days on the downside of the hill than there were on the upside. so what can I do about it? Be a good person, be a good parent, be a good husband, stay in shape, don’t stop doing things that are important, do something crazy, do something fun and make every day count.

Keep Moving Forward.

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Sweaty Noggin

Mojo Loco

Of the many things I have genetically inherited from my parents, Active sweat glands is one trait I definitely got from my father. The Morgan men have always been very sweaty when it comes to manual labor or sporting activity. My dad likes to tell the story of his high school and college basketball days where they always had two jerseys for him, because he would sweat through one of them by the end of the first half.

I have similar moisture expulsion capabilities when it comes to my running activities. I usually wear a compression shirt under my regular shirt when I do distances over 7 miles so that the loose wet shirt does not start rubbing on my skin to produce the bloody man nipples.

I have experimented with different hats and head gear to prevent the flood of salty sweat into my eyes and I think I have finally found a solution. The hats were OK but they don’t let enough heat escape from the top of the head. At the suggestion of Adam Tinkoff, I tried a headband from Kat over at www.goheadband.com. Kat makes these great tech fabric headbands that keep the sweat away from your face while you run. The secret is a little plastic band that she sews into the front to trap the sweat and make it move to either side of the center of your forehead. As much as I sweat, I still get some dripping on either side of my forehead, but that is a MAJOR improvement over what I was dealing with before the headband. I chose the Mojo Loco design (she has many to choose from) as a tip of the hat (of headband) to Adam and his Mojo Loco run coming up in December, 2010.

I have used it on a 4, 5 and 7 mile run so far and although the fabric is completely soaked by the time I am done, it still keeps the sweat out of my eyes. I will probably need to get a few more soon as my running schedule will require lots of laundry time which can be brutal on the life of any garment.

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Men’s Warehouse 2 for 1

Mileage 7 Miles
Time 6:40PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Cool and Rainy

 

I continue my quest for miles with a solid 7 put in tonight. I had planned on running at the lake with my sister in law but she was on a different schedule and I was not quite awake when she wanted to run this morning. I ended up coming home to pay for a few suits that my son had ordered for me as I thought I could do it on Monday, but he was not working on Labor Day. Men’s Warehouse had a great sale going on where you can buy one suit and get the second suit free so I thought is was a good chance to refresh my wardrobe and get him a little commission at the same time.

I left the lake at about 1PM and took the long way home through Kenosha, WI so I could stop at the outlet stores up there off  I-94. Big mistake. I have never seen it so busy in and around that set of stores, but being labor day, everyone was out for a sale. I had to park a good distance from the normal lot, and park on the grass. I was only there to hit the Ralph Lauren stop for one of my favorite white dress shirts, so I got in and out as quick as possible and back on the road.

Normally it is not a good deal at the outlet stores, but today was 30% off the sale prices at Polo so it made the cost of the shirt ALMOST as low as Marshall’s or TJ Maxx. The problem is, it is hard to fine the fine cotton versions of those shirts at Mashalls or TJ Maxx. They usually carry the broadcloth version of the shirt which does not look as good with a suit. I ended up paying $6.00 more for the shirt at the Polo outlet, but at least I now have one. I will keep my eye out at the local discount stores for more in the future as I like to buy a few copies when I find something I like. I have made the mistake in the past of not doing that and then end up not being able to find the item again. I have a favorite pair of tennis Nike tennis shorts and a favorite 3/4 zip Fila sweat shirt that are so tattered that I look like I don’t have a penny to my name. That is next year when both the kids are in college.