comings and goings

yes, yes, i'm still here. this stupid pulled calf muscle is not allowing me to run yet, though. it is feeling alot better, but it's just not ready to do any real work yet. i can jog very lightly for a few steps, but if i try to really run - forget it. oh well, the pains of being old, i suppose...

anyway, even though i've been laid up, the kids have been quite active:
andrew and nathan have been very busy with their 3v3 soccer team. we've played in two tournaments in the past two weeks, and took third place in both. a little disappointing to be honest, but these were very competitive tournaments and the teams we lost to are ones we are familiar with, and they are very good. nathan was our leading scorer this past weekend with 12 goals in 4 matches. we outscored our competition 39-9 in the opening round before falling 8-5 in the semifinals. it didn't help that one of our players was sick and didn't play hardly at all in that game. oh well. these tournaments are really just tuneups for the 3v3 regional championships in clarksville, tennessee on august 13 - 14. we need to finish in the top 5 there to qualify for nationals at the disney complex in january. hmm... orlando in january... what nice thought!
justin's playing baseball allstars and has practice virtually every nite. although his team hasn't been winning too much, he did bat 1.000 in his last tournament. he also had his 9th birthday last week. happy birthday, justin!!
sara is still going to three different dance/gymnastics classes per week, but she hasn't done any competitions lately. she's finally mastered her back tucks and is now getting her aerial carwheels down. she's also started on the balance beam, parallel bars, and vault. she seems to like the beam the best. for me, the beam always seems like the most difficult. i could just imagine myself slipping and straddling that thing. yowsa!

and finally, my tour de france note... doesn't it seem like that at times lance is just toying with everyone else? don't you just get the impression that if he really wanted to he could just accelerate past everyone whenever he wants? like a couple of days ago when ullrich, basso and vinokourov worked so hard to get 15 seconds in front of lance, only to see him eliminate that advantage in practically no time. how demoralizing that must be. he is just so superior to everyone else. i think basso is the only one who would even stand a chance if lance ever really got motivated to crush the rest of the field. man, that dude's impressive.

anyway, my goal is to start running again next weekend. with 5 more days rest, i think i can do it. hopefully that will give me enough training time for the 1/2 marathon i want to do in september. we'll see. keep yer fingers crossed!

somebody up there...

is giggling like a crazed hyena at me right now. has to be. there's no other explanation for the ridiculousness of the past few days. let me explain. on saturday i played in a little informal 6v6 soccer tournament. now let's remember that i've played soccer literally my whole life, at times at a very high level. and i've never been injured during a game. well... here's how it went: we were playing against a local high school, and i received the ball with my back to the goal about 15 yards out. i twisted around, made a move to lose my defender, and pushed off my left foot and was one step from finishing a marvelous goal, when... someone kicked me on my left calf. i went down immediately, cussing the nastiness of the foul. as i got up and turned around to see who committed it, i then had a full realization of what happened. see, nobody was behind me. and when i got up and put weight on my left foot, i went straight back down. the "kick" i thought i received to my calf was actually my calf muscle pulling. owwww! in all these years, i've never pulled a calf muscle. i know, i know, i'm getting old. i shouldn't be playing against these younguns. bah! for the record, my team, featuring only players 30 and older went 4-1, only losing (7-5) to Butler University, who was ranked in the top 20 in division 1 soccer last season. hah, we showed those high schoolers! well, for 3 1/2 games, anyway...

but wait, it gets better!

so, saturday nite, i'm sitting at home at 11:30PM watching the opening stage of the tour de france, with my leg on ice, and i noticed it. it was like a little tickle in the back of my throat. it was the type of tickle that forewarns me that i'm about to get a sore throat, fever, etc.... hmm. no way. maybe i'm just imagining it.

fast forward to sunday morning.

nope, not imagining it. throat's killing me, and i'm either freezing cold or boiling hot. are you kidding me? it's freaking JULY! who gets sick in JULY??!! so now, not only am i limping around, i'm also achy and lifeless, popping advils like tic tacs, and walking around like some sort of drugged out quasimoto. to make a long story short, i finally went to the doctor yesterday, and sure enough i have strep. i got the requisite ass-shot and i feel alot better today. on another good note, the calf feels way better than i thought it would already. i can almost walk without limping. i hope to be back running next week.

andrew and nathan did ok in their mile race on the 4th. andrew wasn't feeling well, but still pulled out a 6:33. i really think that with any kind of formal training program, he could be under 6:00 in no time. nathan finished at 6:42. the good news is that they both beat darrin, who ran a 6:47. the poor guy missed 3rd in his age group by 2 seconds. i knew he shoulda tripped that guy... the better news is that because i was sick and have a pulled muscle, there was no way that i could have run it and been humiliated again by my boys! ha. i knew there was some good to all of this.

anyway, that's what's been going on here. injuries and sickness. as good as the calf feels already, i should be running sometime next week, and i should still be on target for the races i want to do later this summer.

akkilokipok

i'm sorry, but this is freakin' hilarious. check it out.

well, i got my 3-miler in last nite, but again, i had to finagle a little to get it in. the kids had soccer and baseball practice last nite, so we didn't get home until after 8. by the time we finished dinner and the kids were showered and settled in, it was after 9:00. i called darrin to see if he was ready. his wife is a nurse and she had to work last nite so that ruled out darrin, as it was late and he had no one to watch his kids. i ended up doing the three miles myself around 10:30. it wasn't quite as humid as wednesday's run, but it was refreshing nonetheless.

tomorrow i'm playing in a 6v6 soccer tournament. it'll be alot of fun. we're playing in a men's open division, so i'm sure we'll go up against alot of high school and college kids. and that's good because we have a loaded team and i always enjoy kicking their young and usually arrogant asses. regardless of the outcome, it'll be a great workout. it's supposed to cool down tomorrow also - only 83 degrees. brr!

every year on the 4th of july, there is a mile race here in town. andrew and nathan are going to run it this year. i'm hoping they place in their age group. their goal is to come in under 6:00. they've been running quite a bit this summer, so i'm sure they'll do great.

anyway, i hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th of july weekend. and good luck to any and all that are racing!