Run Morgan Run – Page 12 – Running Towards

April 23, 2010

Northern Lights Qualifier – Day 1

The girls don’t start pool play till 3PM today so Jen and I started off with a nice walk around Minneapolis. The weather was a beautiful 58 and sunny just perfect for a nice stroll around the city. I get up here quite a bit on business so I was able to navigate around and show Jen some of the buildings and sites that I am familiar with. Matt and I are coming up here in July for the Twins Sox game so I wanted to take a walk over to the new Target field a check it out. Wow. Even from the outside it was a very impressive structure. We were able to stop in the gift shop and pick up an opening day shirt for Matt but that was all we could really see. Can’t wait for July. We made a quick Target stop for supplies and then went back to the hotel to meet the team for lunch ($5 foot longs for everyone).

The first match was against STC Xplosion a team from St. Charles, Missouri. Both teams were pretty evenly matched as far as skill and size but in the end they out hustled us and we lost the match in two games. The next match went better against High voltage, a team from Texas. We won that one in three games. The final match of the day against Legacy Lightening from Michigan also ended in a victory for our girls. The girls took it to three games but outlasted the opponents and came away with the win.

The coach was in a foul mood today and she made the girls do pushups in the final match during the timeouts and after the game she made them run lines on the court and a full lap around the complex. It was funny hearing the comments from some of the other teams parents asking why the girls were running when they thought we had won the match. We did. Good thing they didn’t loose.

We all went back to the hotel and got cleaned up before the planned dinner. Tonight we had a reservation at ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ on 9th just off of Nicollet. Hell’s Kitchen reminded me of a cross between the House of Blues and Dick’s Last Resort. You enter off street level then take an elevator or stairs down (going into ‘Hell’) to the actual entrance. Once inside you are greeted with a funky combination of eclectic art, cabaret style seating in front of the stage (they have live music) and cozy table in the main room and two ‘anti’ rooms.

The girls all sat at one table with the coach in the main room near the stage and the parents were ushered into the fireplace room away from the girls. We did not see them all night until a few of them showed up at our table asking for cash to pay their bill, which was the plan.

The food here was excellent. I thought Ted’s Montana Grill had the best Bison burger but this place has taken over as my choice for the best non beef burger. I ordered mine medium rare, with Blue Cheese and a side of Sweet Potato fries. They got the doneness just right which is not easy to do. At first look, the meat was brown all the way through but when you bit into the burger you then see just a tough of pink so it was perfect. If you have ever cooked bison, it can be tough to get the temperature or doneness correct. Since bison is so lean there is not much fat to make the burger moist. When we cook them we usually put a saucepan top over the meat when it is on the grill or griddle. This helps retain the moisture and makes for a nice burger. Other people will cut up sun dried tomatoes or other types of vegetables and mix them in with the meat to give the patty extra moisture.

Everyone at the table was complimentary towards the food and the wait staff. Highly recommended.

They also have awesome homemade peanut butter which I am getting all over the keyboard as I type this.

We got back to the hotel at about 11 so the girls had a quick team meeting to talk about tomorrow then we were all off to bed as they were pretty wiped out from the first day of play.

Tomorrow …pool play day two.

April 22, 2010

Northern Lights Qualifier

This weekend my daughter is participating in the 2010 Northern Lights volleyball qualifier in Minneapolis. We decided that instead of doing the normal flying thing, we would make a road trip out of it. Flying is of course more expensive but not only that, it is too quick. To quick you say? Yes too quick. When your kids get in high school and sometimes even in grade school, they have so many things going on that it is easy to loose track of them and what they are doing and becoming. Taking a nice long ride, 6 hours in this case, gives you a chance to find out what is going on in their lives and maybe do just a few silly things. Of course if you have a communication issue with your teen, then a 45 minute plane ride might be more attractive to you. If that is the case I still suggest you bite the bullet and make an effort to reconnect.

Driving through the outer reaches of Wisconsin there is not much choice in the way of radio stations. You either have country or strangely enough 70’s and 80’s music, with the later getting the thumbs up from me. Normally Jen will bring her own device full of music, but in my vehicle I only have an iPod connector that I installed about 2 years ago when I bought the car. We are both moving away from the Apple ecosystem (being a techy I don’t like being told what I can and cannot do to or put on my device, but I will leave that for another post) so Jen had her Zune HD and I had my soon to be replaced by the HTC Incredible, iPhone with mostly podcasts on it. We were soon into a game of guess that artist/tune on the ‘Classic’ rock station (if that is classic music then I guess I am considered a classic too but I will have to confirm that with my wife). I have made some effort over the years to introduce my kids to the ‘good’ music of the 60’s thru the 80’s, minus most of the hair bands. Jen is already a fan of AC/DC, The Who, Springsteen, The Beatles etc so she did very well in guessing most of the artists and only fell short when dipping back into the early 70’s for Badfinger, T-Rex and late 70’s for Rupert Holmes (who doesn’t like Pina Colada’s).

My Facebook friends are familiar with a game I like to play called ‘Where In The World Am I?’, that involves me posting a picture and having people guess the location. I play this game to remind people that there is so much to see in our everyday lives and travels. We are in such a hurry that we miss many interesting things along the way and I was very guilty of this before I started the game.

On this road trip we stopped just outside Black River Falls, WI for a bio break so I thought I would look for an item to post as a clue for the game. As luck would have it there were a few items to choose from and I finally decided to use the the Passenger Pigeon marker as kind of a tribute to earth day. The marker explains that all the passenger pigeons have become extinct and infers that we should take a step back and look at what we are doing to the earth and the creatures that live on it.

One of my other choices for a clue was a sign that commemorated the Black River Falls Forest Fire that happened in 1977. This one was a bit ironic as we came upon a huge fire later that evening near Menomonie, WI. I only had my point and shoot with me so I was unable to get a good close up shot but the some and orange glow was visible for miles.

I wanted to get out of the car and take some better shots with the DSLR but I-94 was pretty busy with truck traffic and there was not much of a shoulder to stop the car on. Oh well, still exciting.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and we pulled into the hotel at about 10:30. We stayed at this DoubleTree 3 years ago when we were here for the same tournament. Nice enough property for the price, right on Nicollet and 11th so only a few blocks from the volleyball venue and the light rail to the airport and Mall of America (we are with teenage girls who want to shop).

Tomorrow we start play. Good luck IPV.

April 14, 2010January 5, 2022

Mile Marker

Mileage	3.5
Time	7PM
Location	Indoors – Treadmill
Weather	Clear – Cool

I had high hopes of increasing my mileage tonight, but after a long day of mind crushing troubleshooting I was just not up to it. Sometimes the mind takes control and tells you you can’t do it, and today was one of those days. Usually the runs are the best way to clear the mind…not today. Mind conditioning is one of the things I need to work on in addition to the body conditioning. No matter how much you train your body, if you let your mind tell you you can’t do something, you won’t be able to do it.

April 10, 2010

Lets’ Go White Sox

Our first Sox game of the season was a bit of a disappointment. It was a chilly 46 degrees for most of the 11 innings that it took to loose to the Twins and the Sox had 2 errors and almost non existent bats. There were two highlights of the night, one coming from each side of the fan base.

The seats behind us always seem to have a different group of people in them so I assume either they do not belong to season ticket holders or some company owns them and gives them out to employees. I will have to the next group how they got them just to satisfy my curiosity. Tonight’s fans in the four seats behind us were transplanted Minnesota residents who now live in Chicago but are still Twins fans. They were decked out in full Twins gear and were enjoying their Miller beer products. The more they drank the funnier their comments got (at least the two guys in the group). The men were obviously true fans of the game and tailored their comments to specific players and player situations on both teams. The girls just started swearing at Chicago fans who did not find the humor in their comments. It got to the point where one of the men had to tell them to shut up or suffer the physical wrath of nearby drunk Chicago fans.

At one of the cross-town (Sox –Cubs) games last year, a woman from New York was sitting in the seats behind us and she commented that she really enjoyed the creative comments/taunts that the White Sox fans produce (my son included that night). She said that at Shea stadium the fans just swear and hurl insults. Funny that it was the Twins fans that were excelling in that area tonight.

The other highlight was when Jim Thome came in as DH for the Twins late in the game. The Sox had shown a tribute montage on the center field scoreboard in the 4th inning as kind of a welcome home for Jim. The fans, me included, gave Jim a standing ovation as he approached the plate to try and break the tie score for the Twins. Jim responded by taking off and tipping his helmet back to the fans and to our satisfaction Jim ended up striking out. So we were able to show our appreciation and not have him hit a homer to beat us.

Despite the White Sox slow start, I am looking forward to a good season this year. Come on Ozzie ball!!

April 9, 2010January 5, 2022

Mile Marker

Mileage	5
Time	4PM
Location	Indoors – Treadmill
Weather	Clear – Cold

Got a quick 5 miles in before the SOX game tonight. I was watching the coverage of the Masters on TV as I ran and I was amazed at the renewed interest in the game since Tiger came back. Regardless of what you think of him, he is good for the game. I don’t particularly care about his personal life and will pass no judgment on what he did or did not do. He is there to entertain us and he is proving the even after his time off, he still can.

April 9, 2010

First 2010 SOX Game

Tonight is our first sox game of 2010. I have been lucky enough to share some fantastic seats with a few other guys for the past 7 years. We have the first two seats located right behind the scout seats which are directly behind home plate. Ours are off set just a bit so we are not directly behind home plate and we are 11 rows up from the field.

There are no seats in front of us so we can stretch our legs out if we need to. The only downside is no cup holders (I know boo-hoo) but I can rest my beer on the wall the separates us from the expensive scout seats ( that is the section where all food, drink, parking etc is included in the price, but they cost a full 3X what my seats do).

My brother works with a guy who has had the tickets in his family for over 40 years (since the old Comiskey Park) and he was nice enough to let me in the group he shares with.

Tonight is supposed to be cold and clear, so we will need to bundle up and hope they can beat the Twins.

April 6, 2010January 5, 2022

Mile Marker

Mileage	3.5
Time	4PM
Location	Indoors – Treadmill
Weather	Raining

Had a busy client day today but I wanted to get a few miles in before the Bulls game tonight. A good friend of mine has season tickets thru his place of work and he was unable to attend tonight’s game so he offered them to me. I plan on taking my wife and parents as this will be Lories first Bulls game and a first in many years for my parents.

I went to a game last year with my son and his friends in almost the same seats so I am looking forward to the view. The seats are located in the first row of section 239 in the club level. These are the seats you see just above the first row of suites at the United Center and they are right on the glass so there are no bodies in front of us. The club level offers a waiter as well so you can order your food and drinks right from the seats and never have to leave, except for the bathroom.

We prefer to get up and walk around a bit as there is so much to see on the first level at the United Center. Dad is still recovering from back surgery so we only did a little stroll but we saw a few live bands and lots of interesting fans (6 inch spiked heals at a ball game, really?)

April 1, 2010

Spring Break Travel in Canada

I had my first experience with travel in Canada during their spring break. According to the airport employees I was working with that travel weekend is as busy or busier than the Thanksgiving travel weekend in the US. Let me temper that with the thought of volume. Although it was busy, Calgary airport does no where near the volume of passengers that Chicago’s O’Hare does, especially not on the US Thanksgiving weekend. I have never been caught in a long customs line at YYC (Calgary Airport) but they were running almost 1.5 hour wait time in the line. YYC has a policy that you cannot get in the customs line more than two hours before your flight, and they we keeping a strict eye on that.

They were forming two lines, one for people who arrived more than two hours before their scheduled flight and one for those who arrived with under two hours till their flight. When you get to YYC, the customs line is directly behind the United Airlines counter so I could see how busy it was or was not. When I arrived at 7:30 am there was virtually no line. I got there early to try and stand by on the 12:50 flight to Chicago. I was not scheduled to leave until 3:51 PM the next day but we were going to finish the class early today (excellent attentive students) so I thought I would wing it (no pun intended).

The United staff was excellent (thanks Tim) and informed me that yesterday the customs line was two hours, so I should line up no later than 11 am for my standby flight. The plane had 15 seats available the night before but by the time I got to the counter that morning, they were booked even (all seats sold). I was put first one on the wait list, paid my change fee and went upstairs to give my class.

We finished up just before 11 so I gathered up my gear and walked down to get in line. That is when I saw why Tim said to get there early. The line was all the way out of customs, wrapping behind the United counter and into the concourse shops where all the restaurants are. The customs line easily had about 200 people in it. Even the two hours and before line had about 40 people in it. Now you would think those lines would cause a huge problem, but YYC is very efficient and has a sharp staff directing traffic. The airport has what I would call Wal-Mart Cowboy Greeters (CG’s). They are older, probably retired men and women who walk around the airport in jeans, white long sleeve shirts, red vests and big white cowboy hats. If you have ANY question you need answered, they are very easy to spot and approach. The CG’s were the ones making sure that our long snaking line did not interfere with other passengers in the concourse or the businesses that we were moving in front of.

As I mentioned, there were two entry lines on either side of the entrance to customs. If you were smart enough (planned ahead like I do) to get to the airport with plenty of time you were put in the plus two hours line. You would think you would then be penalized for your efficiency, as late arrivers got into the other longer line that was constantly moving. But the way they worked it was every ten minutes or so, one of the YYC employees would go over to the plus two hours line and pull people out of a that line and allow them to cut into the customs line. So at 11:30am he would call out 1:30pm and before flights. It worked really well and people were very polite and understood the process (although Canadians are very polite to begin with so I don;t know if this would work at JFK).

It got to the point where I was not even to the customs door at it was already 11:30, so they were coming to the long line and pulling people to the front of the line by flight if you had less than 1:20 till you flight. So if you are dong the math, the early planners (plus two hour line) had at least a 40 minute advantage over those who did not plan ahead. I figured that long lines would work to my advantage in getting a standby seat, but as it turns out, luck was not on my side, at least for flight number 1.

March 30, 2010

Mile Marker

Mileage	5
Time	6PM
Location	Indoors – Treadmill
Weather	Clear – Cold

Another 5 miler at the hotel. They had two nice commercial Precor treadmills in the fitness center along with a few bikes and some weights. The area was small but enough room for my needs. I turned on the TV to watch some hockey (what else in Canada) and cranked up my headphones to catch up on Buzz Out Loud.

I was about 2 miles into my 5 when a couple of younger guys came in to ‘pump up’. They went right for the weight machine which was directly in front of me and began their routine, switching off on different parts of the machine.

They kept looking over at me as if they were upset that this older guy (they were at least half my age) was showing them up with my steady pace. They decided to utilize the other treadmill next to me for some walking between their weight reps. One guy would fast walk while the other one lifted.

I must confess that I obtained a little satisfaction watching them get winded on the treadmill as I was cruising along and felling great. They gave up on the treadmill after about 20 minutes of combined work.

Many runners make it look so easy that we forget it is hard work to not only run, but to do it consistently no matter if you feel like it or not. There are many things in life that we take for granted, that pros or just enthusiasts make us think are easy, that we think we can do without much effort. Some of them require athletic ability, some of them are mental and some just require you to be a good person (remember not everyone is and acts of kindness are hard for some people).

There are also times when we think something is hard and it is in fact easy if you just put in the time or at least go for it ( again, acts of kindness, public speaking, driving a Nascar).

My son has a few new goals that he has set this week that at one time he would have thought to be impossible or at least too difficult. But as we gain experience and are always given that all important encouragement, we find that the goals are not so impossible. I always try to be positive with him but not at the expense of reality. I try to make sure and express my support for his idea but also make sure to give him a few of the negatives if appropriate and how I would approach and overcome those obstacles.

Its all about putting in the time to get better and more comfortable. Those two young guys just need to put in the time running and one day they will be able to keep up with me.

March 29, 2010

In Flight Drinks

What is your policy on airplane size bottles of booze? I will occasionally put one in my 3-3-1 bag (TSA approved) and when I get to the airport I buy a diet coke a pour the whiskey in. It makes for a nice in flight drink.

Is that taking away revenue from the airline, perhaps, but $6.00 for a 1/4 can of coke and a shot of whiskey? At least in a bar there is some atmosphere, a comfortable chair and other people to interact with.

I find it very difficult to get most people into a conversation on a plane. Although I am sometimes guilty of napping, especially on the 6am flights, I at least try to start a conversation by asking the simple open ended question ‘ Are you going away or coming back?’. That opens it up for talking about trip plans, where they are from, where they are going etc.

I have found it easier to get men to talk and maybe that is because we like to talk about ourselves, or maybe I am just too scary for the women to feel comfortable talking to a stranger.

At any rate, I will keep at it as these are lots of interesting people out there that I have yet to meet.