Postcards from the Funny Farm

This morning on my way to teach summer school for day one, I heard news on the radio that Tim Russert had suffered a thrombosis and succumbed to a massive heart attack. The news shocked me, he was only 58. The radio host explained he had an enlarged heart which usually means high blood pressure was present and could have been prevented through medication. In the past I have been open about my own struggle with hypertension and you may recall that I take hypertensive medications to keep my numbers below the normal 120/80. So far, so good. My blog is here 100% for the inspiration of my reader but …

It doesn’t matter how inspired your work is if you are not healthy.

That goes for my teaching and any other work I do. So, in this post today I’m killing the buzz a bit, for a good cause.

I’m 39 as of the 9th this month and I recognize that the treadmill and medication have to be part of my routine if I want to have longevity. Your thing might be diabetic lancets or who knows what. Are you working your program? As you get caught up on your computer and the CAT6 cables around your workspace, how do you feel?

It’s easy to think we can live to be 100 but it’s another thing to do what we can to ensure that. It takes inspiration to live and creativity to incorporating health into our dream. In my life as a dad, I owe it to my wife and kids to be around as long as I can. Tim Russert’s premature passing should be a wake up call, broadcast as far as “Meet the Press” ever did. Are you thinking about your health? Maybe you should be. What does the topic of health make you feel like? Sorry if it bugs ya. not.

Walking through CVS today I saw this book on display and had to buy it. The title absolutely flowed through me. I have no clue what the plot is about but ever since I picked it up I have wanted to post a memory of my running here on my blog: I have many.

My dad told me in my freshman year of high school that I had to either pick a sport and compete or get a part time job. I see the wisdom in that so much now that I have a son of my own. I weighed around 100 lbs. at 5′8″ so football was out. I suppose I could have been a wrestler like my friend Kevin Petrisko, he was 5′5″ and about 95 lbs. Before meets he would fast and run in plastic to sweat it off. I wouldn’t have had to do that because I never ate and I was a bag of bones. Literally you could see my ribs. I was healthy, just very gaunt. Thank goodness I finally filled out in college. I’m about 170 now, and needing to lose a spare tire. My how age changes your worries.

But back to the memory of running. I chose running X-country and track instead of getting a job. It was a wise decision. I have 4 years worth of remarkable memories stored away in my mind forever and anon. If you’ve run, you know that running is ethereal … other-worldly. One practice for X-country, we were running a 10 mile workout. Can you imagine that? It was from Mission Viejo to San Juan Capistrano and back again. The coaches ran with us but one took a car halfway and parked it beforehand so he could ride alongside us driving like horses to the destination. I would do those workouts without a thought. It was like riding on my legs. I do my treadmill now all these years later and remember how I was back then … so much endurance. I miss that, but I know it would take far more discipline than I have to get there again. In fact, it might not even be possible anymore. Back to the memory: It was almost prom and I had no date. My mom had been pressuring me like moms do to ask someone ANYONE. based on my slight frame and my somewhat immature disposition back then, I wasn’t the BMOC in the eyes of the girls. Nonetheless, I found myself staring during that workout at a freshman female. She was a friend, I was a senior … her Dolphin shorts translated to lingerie to that 17 year old post-adolescent testosterone laden runner. I ran up alongside her and after a few words regarding the prom, she agreed to go. I remember running faster than I ever had to finish that 10 miles.

Nothing ever came of the friendship between she and I. We had a great prom night of dancing and walking on the beach with our friends in our formalwear. I’ll leave her name out because too many people have found me through things I’ve posted and I’d rather just keep her mysterious anyway! My wife has seen the prom picture. My mom has it or I would post it. My hair was like a pompadour and her hair was like an exploding lion’s mane. Don’t you love the 80’s?

I have memories of running in so many situations now as a 38 year old dad, teacher, blogger. It’s like I wouldn’t feel as much if I hadn’t pushed back then. All I had was what I gave and as long as I did my “personal best” the coaches were happy. Great paradigm for life I think. It certainly is mine.

Oh yeah, and I will review this book when I get around to finishing it. It probably has nothing to do with this post, but you never know ’til you pop the cover.