Thunderbolt

Hello again. It's been quite awhile since I have had a chance to make an update. As soon as we returned from Hawaii, our computer decided to take its own vacation and this is the first day we've had it back from the repair shop. I plan to make a complete "report" of our trip and the marathon itself. I hope to do that in the next couple of days (hopefully before Sophie's birthday party on Sunday). Until then, I hope that everyone has a nice New Year celebration and that the holdiays have been good to you. Aloha.

This morning was my final run before the marathon. I didn't know how far I was going to go until I got out there. There were too many things on my mind that I decided not to do a full 6 miles. Besides, it was frickin' cold out there. Frost covered the cars and the grass was brittle. I felt kind of tight, and a little strange. All of the training is now at an end. The final exam is on Sunday. I've received a lot of nice notes from people... emails, cards and a hilarious phone call from Marsick. It was overwhelming, in a sense. Overwhelming in a good sense. I almost lost my cool tonight when I got home from work and put on some Springsteen for the kids. Some of those songs that carried me through the training, especially the emotional ones from "The Rising", it really got to me for the first time since the concert with Budd back in August. (I know, I know... Spingsteen again? Give it a rest Malchus). The bags are all packed and Jules and I have that nerv...

Today is December 10. It was 2 years ago today that we learned that Jake had CF. I didn't think about it much today, but I could tell it was on our minds. It was just there, hanging like a cloud. Jules is in bed already. She's tense about the trip. She always gets that way before we travel. But I know that the significance of today is bothering her as well. I hope that someday it won't affect us as much as it does now. Last year it was hard to get as excited about Christmas as we'd hoped. The year before...well, we were overwhelmed. I've received a bunch of nice letters, calls and emails giving me extra confidence for Sunday. I think the marathon falling so close to today will give me that extra kick at the end as well. I haven't thought much about the race. In fact, I forgot I have to get up and run tomorrow. When I think about the marathon I feel a touch anxious. But I know I'll finish. I'm not just running for myself. Aloha

It's been a looooong day. Got out of bed at 4:30, but I didn't sleep well. I was too worried that I might oversleep the alarm. Had to get up and drive Vill to the airport this morning and get him there by 6:15. Can't complain, though. He's done so much for me in the past two years, this is the least I can do. After dropping him off, I came to work and ran on the treadmill for about 30 minutes. A simple 5K on the treadmill is nothing, anymore. I can't believe that just six months ago I could barely run 2 miles. Now, 3.1 is a piece of cake. I guess all of that training really has paid off. Not much else happening today. Work was work. The DVD master should be complete by tomorrow. That's pretty damn exciting, if I do say so myself. Hopefully we'll have something to send out by the turn of the year. Will I EVER stop thinking about this movie? I'm so eager to begin something new. Alas, I have to continue to be patient. Once we return from Haw...

Another Monday, another visit to Dr. Good. I like this guy. Besides getting my back all set for the marathon, he's a pretty cool guy to converse with (except when he makes me listen to Michael Bolton during the roller machines. I mean.... Come On!). I have to get up early and take Vill to the airport early tomorrow morning. He's off to the Bahamas for a movie shoot. He's going to be gone for at least two weeks. They're not sure if he's going back after the holidays. I can't imagine going that long without seeing Julie and the kids. Besides just being out of the country, I don't think I would like being away that long. A week is tolerable. But after that it would get VERY depressing. I guess that's the price you pay working in the entertainment industry. For now, I have this semi-secure desk job that keeps me close to home. I'm not sure how we'll handle me being away should that opportunity ever arise. There is a big part of me that r...

Yesterday morning was an excellent run, I must say. I was full of energy and felt very strong at the end. Of course, I felt just as strong at the end of the 10 mile run we did before the 20 mile run, but hey, who's keeping track? They new shoes felt great and I took some of these supplements called Very Greens (from Trader Joe's, only 10 bucks), which kept me feeling full (i.e. not depleted of energy) during the run. And I had a pretty full breakfast with two scrambled eggs and a bagel. Is this the right combination? Who knows? I think the eggs and their protein is the way to go, though. I'll have to check into that when we get to Hawaii. I completed the "Thank You" cards on Friday and it was quite a good feeling. We didn't do anything last night. Tonight we had the Cruz's and the Millers (from down the street) over for dinner. It was one of those occasions in which both families had never really met so we wondered whether they'd get along. ...

This week is dragging on and the anticipation for the marathon is starting to build. I've run twice this week and both were unsatisfying (Tuesday and this morning). Inside there is this part of me that just wants to the race to be here so we can get on with it already. I guess this must be the nervous energy everyone has been telling me about. If so, I will have plenty to burn come Sunday the 14th. I have spent the better part of two days writing out Thank You cards to the people who have made donations. I want to thank everyone personally, even those people I don't know. I only have a few left. Today I received a donation from the Andersons, great people from my youth back in North Olmsted. Peg and Dave Anderson were youth leaders in my church and I always looked up to them. They actually challenged our minds when were teens and made us try and think about what God was all about... all in that hour of Sunday when most kids were indifferent or half awake. But I always...

A rare Sunday entry. Everyone seems to be fighting this cold. Jules and I woke up worse for the wear (you have to feel crappier before you feel better, right?) and the kids just feel out of sorts. The day was pretty mellow, a bunch of errands and some household chores. We took the kids to lunch at El Pollo Loco and that's when I started to lose it. Neither of them would eat anything and only wanted to play in the jungle-gym area. And I couldn't help but feel, "Man, we spent MONEY on this food, and it's going to be thrown away." And I was forceful in my tone of voice with Sophie, especially, and this black cloud just stayed over me the rest of the afternoon. Later on, when we were getting ready for dinner, Sophie, being a 5 year old, complained about having to pick up the living room by herself. And again, I had this... tone. And I used it on her and I walked away, angry. Moments later, Julie took me a side and told me that I sound "angry. And (my) voi...

Julie and the kids are making cookies in the kitchen so I thought I'd jump on here for a minute. We ran that 10 mile recovery run this morning. I ran with Beth and Lucy doing a 3/1 the whole way. I wasn't sure if I'd even make it through the whole thing at that pace. Last night I didn't get much sleep, Sophie kept her knee in my back most of the night. Not that I blame her. Around 4 in the morning I moved to Jake's bed (because, hey, he isn't using it) and slept for another hour. By the end of the 10 miles I was feeling pretty good. This cold I'm fighting has been knocking me back a little bit. I'm pretty worn out, now. Jules hasn't felt good all day. I took the kids to lunch and then had Sophie go with me while I shopped for Julie’s Christmas presents and bought a few things at the hardware store (those DAMN SPRINKLERS are the bane of my existence!!!). Got the rest of the lights up as well so the outside of the Malchus home is very festi...

Somehow got on the bike this morning. We slept like logs after a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. The morning was spent watching the Macy's parade, and then we drove to Karyn's mother's home. That was about an hour drive. The rest of the day was spent with Karyn's family (The Gardners, The Christensens and Kathy Coyle.... their mom). I have to say that this was one of the nicest Thanksgivings we've had in a long time. Maybe it was the beers, I don't know. We got home late and crashed. Today (after my morning ride through the ever-developing Valencia area...when WILL they have built enough houses anyway?... we made our way to Costco for some shopping. Julie bought my Christmas gifts (yes, I know what they are, we're not being too secretive this year since the bulk of our gifts to each other is the trip to Hawaii) and we ordered our Holiday cards. Somehow, we managed to get a great picture of our kids, you know, the two who don't like getting their pict...

Ran this morning and it felt like I hadn't run since April. It was cold (I actually wore sweats) and windy. And my body was still.... STILL tired. As I went along for my brief 40 minute run, I was afraid that maybe I might have lost some of my strength since the 20 miler. What was I thinking? As if one 20-mile run could really exhaust you THAT much. Sheesh. I don't know, maybe it can. An....yway. By the time I was 10 minutes into the run I could feel a really nice stride. I mean, I felt some speed, man. I guess my fears were silly. I'm ready for this bad boy in a little over two weeks. I mean, I'll be ready then, I'm not ready today. You get what I mean. This morning Sophie had a Thanksgiving feast at preschool that all of the parents were invited to. God, it was so awesome. I was welling up as she sang the song the whole class had learned. She was pretty excited that I was there. Is it strange to think that I feel so damn lucky because my daughter l...

Did not run this morning. My body was telling me to take it easy one more day. Glad I did. Last night we were singing and dancing to an old Peter, Paul and Mary recording of "Puff the Magic Dragon". On Saturday we went to a puppet show at the mall and Sophie fell in love with the song (it was integral to the puppet show). When I got home from work she wished she could hear the song again. Little did she know that I had one of my mom's old LP's buried among the hundreds I have in the office. Ahh, remember LP's? There's nothing like them. I know that compact disc's are supposed to provide better sound quality (and, admittedly, they do). But there's a human element that's missing with cd's. I can listen to a cd and you can be thousands of miles away listening to your own copy of the same cd and we're having the same music experience. But with LP's.... man, they were a personal experience. The minute the needle hit the vinyl and ...

What can I say about running 20 miles? Well, I started off strong. I can say that. It was the farthest I've run to date. Yes, I can say that as well. I can also say that my legs felt like they were going to fall off of my body. Or, I could say that I have no idea how I'm going to feel after 26 miles except that I will be relieved that it over. Yes. I know I can say that too. But in the end, I found the strength to complete the run in just (and I mean JUST) under 4 hours. Actually, at the last turn, I checked my watch and I was at 3:58:47 and I found some kind of energy to get in there around 4:59:35. That is something I'm pretty happy about. Throughout the run, I felt like this little group of four we've been running with stayed very strong together. The beginning of the run was a group of 6. Sebastian (the doctor), Tony (the realtor), Lillith (the former Olympian), Beth (my CF team partner), Lucy (the energizer bunny lawyer) and myself (the stubborn father of ...

Ran that same route this morning and I think it went great. I figure it's about 6 miles and I did it in an hour and seven minutes. I feel great when I finish and I've felt good all day, too. I remember when I would get up at 5:30 and be exhausted all day from running two miles. I've come a long way. I feel really confident about Saturday. Last week's long run went very well and I feel like if I start strong with a 5/2 and then possibly taper off as we progress, I should be able to conserve my energy. A lot will depend on the day. Whatever the weather is like that morning will more than likely have an effect on my early performance. I hope it doesn't take me much longer than 4 hours. I'd like to get home in time to see some of the Ohio State - Michigan game. Jacob had an appointment with Dr. Frend, his pediatrician, yesterday. He put some of our worries at rest concerning the feeding tube. Dr. Frend felt that even though Jacob hasn't grown as much ...

Just got a call from Jules. Jacob had an appointment with his GI doctor this morning ands they're concerned that he isn't growing enough. He said that this happens with CF kids. They get on the enzymes and they don't want to eat all of the time. I'm sure being 2 also has something to do with it. But the concern is that he isn't getting enough calories when he eats. The doctor brought up the option of a feeding tube that would be surgically inserted into his stomach. This is the second time they've brought up this method of getting him enough calories. But they want to wait until his next appointment in January before we discuss this any further. Talk about taking some of the wind out of your sails. This news just deflated me. I could hear a bit of sadness in Jules' voice. I know she got teary eyed at the doctor's office. When I was on the phone with her I was starting to get choked up. How much more does he have to go through at his age? DAM...

I made the commitment this morning to go for a long run. Having only run my long route once since I began training (and that was back in May), I decided that it was time to put in the miles in preparation for Saturday. The long run consists of taking that Decoro hill route and combining it with my standard route that takes me down the bike path and around the neighborhood. Today, because the traffic lights weren't cooperating, I opted to begin my run in reverse, heading down Bouquet to the bike path and then tackling the hill in the end. This proved to be a smart decision. I wound up running with traffic for m90% of the run. By not having to run against the crosswind of cars passing me, I was able to concentrate on my goal. I also decided to run at the 5/2 pace I've been doing on the Saturday long runs. This was also a good decision. My legs were strong enough that by the end I was able to switch to a 5/1 for the last couple miles. I can't tell you how awesome I felt...

The weekend has come and gone. On Saturday I ran a solid 10 miles with Sebastian and Tony, the two guys I've been running with (from City of Hope) the past month or so. It was an excellent pick me up after the past couple of weeks. Last week I was ready to pack it in. But getting out there for the morning with these guys really put my head back on straight and now I'm geared up to run the 20 miler this week. When I told everyone about my attempt at 18 and the conditions I was running in they all said I was brave just for attempting it. Sure enough, Robert had only positive things to say and felt I would have no trouble with the long run this coming weekend. Let's hope he's right. The rest of Saturday was spent cleaning and straightening up the house in preparation for Jacob's party. We were all well spent by the end of the day and collapsed into bed at about 10 pm. I am feeling a lot better than I did last week. I think the effects of traveling really took it...

Hard to believe it's been 2 years, but today is Jacob's birthday. What a fun morning we had. Last night Julie and I put together a Little Tykes car (the kind that he sits in and wheels himself around in) and we brought out his gifts. Sophie had chosen a Wiggle guitar that plays snippets of songs and various LOUD notes. Of course, he loves it. There was so much happiness in our home that it's easy to forget how insane it was when Jake was born. Jules had been in the hospital for almost 2 weeks and I was driving all over LA between our (then) new home in Santa Clarita, Sophie's daycare in North Hollywood, my work in Hollywood and Julie at the hospital in Burbank. By the time Jake finally arrived, I was already exhausted! He came to us early. Jake was originally due in December. But Julie was retaining too much amniotic fluid and they feared for her health. So her doctor placed her on bed rest. This was kind of tough for a couple weeks, but we all endured the has...

A rather uneventful day here in... well now what is Los Angeles' nickname? Cleveland has always been the Heartland to me. I can't think of one for LA besides Southern California. Not too exciting. I did run this morning. Decided to take the Decoro hill again and test my luck. No pit stops this morning. I did, however, have to combat a load of self-doubt and the burden of stress. I can't believe the marathon is a month away. And today I was thinking... I can't wait until it's over. The exhaustion and the dedication have been so hard at times. I'm not sure how I've been able to keep up with it. I'm pretty nervous because I haven't run over 10 miles in almost 4 weeks. Will my body be able to hold up? Something tells me I'll be able to do it. Some deep reserve will kick in. It did in Bowling Green when I was finishing mile 7. I was contemplating stopping at 8, but my inner "don't be a pansy" voice spoke up. Actually, it w...

This morning's run was cut short because I thought my bowels were going to explode. That's putting it nicely. I came down the Decoro hill and suddenly everything began cramping up. Now, I'm not talking about some simple discomfort. I'm talking about, "if I don’t make it to the john RIGHT NOW, things arte going to get, er, messy. Part of the joy of running is the freeness you feel when you're so in tune with your body and every muscle is performing in unison. You can glide across the pavement or the grass like you're and elk or a gazelle, or hell, a fast moving elephant. But when one small thing isn't in tune, whoa baby, look out. See, I wasn't ANYWHERE close to a bathroom. Seriously now, this was one of those moments I wasn't sure how I was going to get home! I must have been 3 miles from the house. And I couldn't run anymore. Oh, no, that would have caused even more trouble. I once read about a runner who crossed the finish line o...

Got home from Ohio in fine condition. The screening went very well. I was totally surprised by exactly who showed up to the screening. I was sure that my old college roommates would be there, but when my old high school friend James Oyler and the star of my senior film, Brody McDonald, walked in, I was floored. Both men drove 2 hours to come see the film. How flattering. Unfortunately they had to leave before I could have any real conversation with them. Luckily I have their email addresses. The film went over nicely with the crowd of mostly friends and family. I would say that there were about 60 people in attendance, 40 of which were people I expected. Those students that did show up all expressed that they had liked it. I only received a couple of criticisms. Oh well, you can't please everyone. I was especially proud that the evening raised close to $1000.00! I couldn't believe it. Even without a sold out crowd, we raised that much in donations. I am so proud o...

We are now in one of the new BG computer labs. I ran only 8 miles last night before my legs began cramping up from the wind and cold. I believe it was in the high 30's when I finally finished! We tested the DVD at the theater and it looks like it will project fine. Getting kind of anxious about the whole thing, but I'm sure it will be fine. Beth and Tom are coming up early for dinner and that should be fun. Bob has been here since last night and it's been wonderful just hanging out with him. We spent most of last night at our old campus hangout, Pollyeyes. After several drinks we went to one of the college bars for a about 15 minutes before I really began feeling old. I miss Julie and the kids terribly. Thank goodness I can call them anytime. Can't wait to get home tomorrow. One thing I don't miss about Ohio is the smoking. All of my clothes smell like cigarettes. Disgusting. That's one reason we won't be moving back to Ohio any time soon. I can...

I'm sitting in a Bowling Green tech lab where the movie is being dubbed from dv to DVD. In arrived in Ohio at about 5:15 this morning and sat in the Cincy airport for almost 2 hours. I attempted to sleep on the floor with my head on my duffle and one of those airplane pillows. Not the most comfortable items. I think I slept some. It's all a little blurry. Arrived in Toledo around 9-ish and Sean picked me up a half hour later. It was very strange driving into Bowling Green. I haven't been on campus in a couple of years (I think I've said that before). Sitting here in this tech lab, it's almost surreal. I'm lounging around, watching the movie record in real time. A few minutes will pass and I'll look up out the window at campus life. I feel so out of place. And old. We got a nice little blurb in the Toledo paper. Something smaller in the BG campus paper (which was a little disappointing). I've spoken to Jules and the kids a couple of times. Sop...

Don't know why I didn't write yesterday. I had every opportunity to do so. I did run during my lunch break. Once again I ran through Hollywood and the area. I did not run the same route as Monday. I opted to run one big loop that took me just under an hour (like, 3 seconds under an hour). I must have run at least 6 miles. I was running faster than I have with the groups on the Saturday run, that’s for sure. I began with a 4/1 and switched to 5/1 at whatever point I thought was halfway back to the office. This was a much better experience than the run on Monday. I think because I knew exactly the course I was running (instead of running aimlessly throughout a neighborhood) I felt like I was actually going somewhere. Kind of like L.A. traffic vs. driving in Ohio. In Ohio, if you drive for 30 minutes, you actually GET someplace. In Los Angeles, 30 minutes gets you from you house to the video store around the corner. (What's that line from "Singles"? ...

Did not workout this morning. Got home at 2:30 from the audio lay down. Everything sounds great. I'm very excited. Jacob had an appointment today at Children's Hospital with his pulmonary physician; Dr. Margetis (sp.) Julie took him while I had Sophie visit me at work. I love having her visit. She's so much fun to watch. And she's very sweet. Jake's appointment didn't go as well as planned. He hasn't grown in the 8 weeks that have passed between his last visit. 8 weeks! And he hasn't grown an inch or gained any weight. It's like I don't know what to do. We feed him anything with fat in it. And we have done everything his doctor's have laid out for him. And still he doesn't grow. You can't realize how distressing this is to hear when you're a parent. And the doctor mentioned extreme situation in which some kids get bags inserted into their abdomens so that they can have night feedings. When Julie found Sophie and me ...

Ran this afternoon in Hollywood. It was the first time I've run outside since last Tuesday and I could really feel the difference. There is so much to say about running outdoors; the treadmill just isn't the same. I ran by work, in Hollywood. I didn't have an exact route and that was a little distracting. But I did run for about 50 minutes, so I at least got my time in. Hollywood is so much dirtier than Santa Clarita. And I was a little on edge because I wasn't sure what exactly was lurking around the corner. I don't want to sound paranoid, but there are definitely some strange individuals who lurk the streets of Hollywood. Sadly, many of them homeless and suffer from mental illness. It's just depressing. Something new has come about. My rear end (i.e. my ass) has started to get sore on my right side. I started to feel this during the 16 mile run. I thought this soreness would go away with the extra days off. Guess not. The rest of the hats arrived...

Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003 Ahhh, my birthday. It's that one day when I feel really special. Probably because I have a family that loves me so much and they let me be a lounger on my birthday. Julie, in particular, is very big on letting a birthday person have the day off. We started the day with pancakes and then went to see a film called "Good Boy" which was aimed directly at Sophie's age. Jake wouldn't sit still for more than 10 minutes and Julie spent the rest of the movie walking around with him throughout the movie theater. Soph seemed to enjoy the movie (it's about talking dogs from outer space. That's VERY general, but you get the idea). Didn't run for the second day in a row. I decided to take the entire weekend off and let my body get some extra rest. I've talked about feeling like I'm hitting a wall, and so I decided this was the perfect opportunity (i.e. not having to run 18 miles) to pull back for a couple of days. The rest of t...

Halloween was great fun. I was so amazed with Sophie. Not only was she undeterred by the drizzling rain (everyone carried umbrellas), but also she was running off ahead of me with the other girls while I fell back because I was carrying Jake. We went trick-or-treating with our neighbors, the Millers, and both kids came away with a lot of candy. The fires and the rainy weather drove away most of the kids this year. From what we were told, it's usually very busy in our neighborhood every year. Something to look forward to next year. Jake, of course, refused to wear his costume... he even refused to wear his jacket and his arms were freezing by the time we wrapped things up. We went up and down our street and then hit the street behind ours. That was when Sophie was satisfied and we went home. We warmed up watching Springsteen and an old McDonald's birthday video that Sophie wanted to watch because it was my birthday. She's pretty funny. She was so excited about my b...

Short day at work. It's Halloween!! Sophie is SOOO excited that it just runs over and everyone gets excited, too. Did not run today. Not sure about tomorrow. I feel like I'd like to take a couple extra days off just to let my body overcome some of the burnout I've been feeling. And then I can start again fresh on Monday. Sophie's going as "Jasmine" from Aladdin tonight, and she looks soooo cute. I wish I could post pictures. That's all for today. Aloha.

The fires are dying down up by our house. This is a huge relief. Hopefully by the weekend the firefighters will have extinguished all remaining flare-ups in the Santa Clarita area. As for the San Bernardino Mountains and San Diego, that's another story altogether. As far as I can tell, Tony and Cindy’s house hasn't been lost yet. All news I've been following makes no mention of the area near their home that I am familiar with. I can only hope and pray. Tony and his daughter, Brianna, stopped by Klasky this morning and I gave them a tour of the animation studio. I think it was more a distraction than anything else. I'm sure their whole family is getting stir crazy staying at their cousin's house for so long. I know I would. With the air quality as terrible as it is, our 18-mile run has been cancelled for this weekend. That means that next weekend is supposed to be the 18-miler. Guess I'll have to figure a way to do it on my own in Bowling Green. I ran o...

It's Wednesday. I've caught up. Came into work and everything seemed fine by our house. A couple hours into the day, though, and all hell broke loose. Part of Interstate 5 (which I must take to get home) was close off by our house and there were major flare-ups around Six Flags Magic Mountain, a popular amusement park by our house. Julie is freaking out just a little. And with good reason. I'm going to leave work early to fight traffic and try and get there to be with my family. I feel terrible for my friend Tony. Today was the first day he said he felt like he had no confidence that their home would be spared. The fires in Lake Arrowhead are literally a hell on earth and there is no way they'll be able to stop those fires because there are just TOO many dead or dying trees up there. On top of that, the smoke has become too thick for planes to fly overhead and drop water/retardant. This is a tragedy. I've sent out word to Robert (my running coach) to get hi...

This is for Tuesday. I ran in the morning and it felt pretty good. You could see the air getting darker. Had a lot of things on my mind and it was hard to concentrate on the run. Decided on a new story (or an old one) to pursue) and that gave me some new confidence. And hope. This is an idea I've been meaning to write for a long time and just deciding to go forward with it has given me renewed excitement in writing. Of course, it isn't commercial and wouldn't be an “easy" sell, buy it's something that I feel like I WANT to write, and that is more important at this juncture. Got to work and spent the day worrying about the fires up by our house. Those worries proved to be justified when Karyn and the boys came over to our house to spend the night. Parts of Stevenson Ranch were voluntarily evacuated. I came home early, a little worried and stressed. You can see ash floating around in the air, covering cars and just about everything else. My sister Beth and ...

Monday. Did not run but got up and did some Yoga while Jules went to her gym to work out at 6:15. The kids, of course, woke up too. I think they're a little off because of Daylight Savings time (which was on Sunday). Anyway, while Sophie and Jacob watched the Wiggles, I did a little Yoga. Not as much as I'd like, but it turned out to be enough to ease my soreness from Saturday. Went to work with a little confidence. The network has picked up 10 new episodes of our one show. There should be a little job security, right? As the day went on, it became evident that the fires are not going out any time soon. I spoke with Tony, briefly, on my way to work and he said he is going back and forth between being bummed and having an attitude of there's nothing you can do... it's in Mother Nature's hands. I'll tell you, I don’t know what to say to him. I can't imagine being faced with the possibility of losing your home. They have a beautiful place that they'...

Just viewed when my last posting occurred. Yikes, it's been a week. Anyway, as I said, the fires in San Bernardino had begun burning uncontrollably. On Sunday, after Church (Julie's first day singing in the choir), we went to a Halloween party at Budd and Karyn's. Every year Karyn throws a party for the neighborhood kids on her street, plus our kids and Vill and Heather's kids. My legs were a little sore from the 10-mile run, but all together, I felt pretty good. The party was great, but a black cloud literally hung over our heads all day. A fire in Simi Valley could be seen in the hills. You could see the glow from the flames and it made the presence of danger felt, at least, I felt it. What if those flames come our way? What will the air quality be like? What should we do with Jake? Things like this may never occur to parents with regular kids, but when your child has a lung condition... The Gardners were spending the night at Karyn's sister's house (...

It's been a crazy couple of days so I'll do my best to update everything in order.... On Saturday we ran 10 miles and it was a little tough for me. My legs were kind of stiff and I think that because I didn't begin with a 4/1 and jumped right into a 5/2, my legs have a little rough time getting set. Plus, I forgot my Advil, so when the achiness set in, I didn't, have anything to help ease the pain. Still, I finished with a better time than I did our last 10-mile recovery, so maybe we did something right after all. The rest of the day was spent cleaning up the house for dinner with our neighbors and watching Bowling Green defeat Northern Illinois in an important Mid American Conference football game. The game was televised on ESPN from BG, so it was really neat to see the old football stadium on TV. Later, our neighbors, Steve and Missy Miller came over with their twin daughters, Sophie and Hannah for lasagna dinner and we had a real nice time. It was really nice to...

Ran again this morning. I switched my days so that Jules can go check out this workout facility tomorrow morning. The run was okay, but I kept psyching myself out worrying about getting home in time to see Sophie off to school. I believe that this has been one of the things tripping me up all of these weeks. I just didn't realize it until today. Still, I managed to run the Decoro hill and get home in 55 minutes. Next week I'll combine the Decoro hill with the last 3/4 of my usual morning 4 miles, just to give my legs a little more push before the 18 mile run. What a great birthday that will be. We are completing the final sound mix this evening and I am so excited that it'll all be over soon. Peter is amazing with the sound edit and has transformed some of these scenes back to how they originally were intended. We should have no problem having this new version done for the Bowling Green screening. Seann is really kicking butt and may be able to get my ticket reimburs...

Ran this morning and it felt great for the first time in weeks. I mean, it felt like I remembered it feeling like all those months ago. I ran a 4/1 for the first half then switched to a 5/1 for the last part of my run. With Springsteen blaring in my ears (man, is it ever time to switch out the tunes on that MP3 player) I cruised home. Like I said, it felt great. After I got home, well, that's a different story. Sophie had a dentist appointment and she WAS NOT happy about that. Poor Julie had to take Soph with Jake en tow. However, they all lived through it. I, on the other hand, had to suffer through some of the crappiest traffic in memory to get to work. I had randomly picked three albums for the ride this morning and made it 90% of the way through Bob Dylan Unplugged before Zimmerman's haggled voice drove me to the brink of smashing into the car in front of me. Okay, it wasn't that bad, but close. Work today was fine. Sent off a nice big picture of Jake and some ...

I did yoga this morning. I had previously written (about 5 minutes ago) an entire rant about the sadistic nature of yoga instructors, but I somehow lost the whole thing. Seems my karma was watching out for me. Whatever. Like I said I did yoga this morning and it has made my legs feel great. I look forward to it on Wednesday and figuring out new breathing techniques to help shift the focus of my pain during the marathon. We walked Sophie to class today. She made a card for one of the boys in her class. She was so cute when she went to give it to him. She was nervous, but smiling. I don't think he quite understood that she might have a little crush on him. She always talks about this boy and wonders why he won't play with her. Soph hasn't quite grasped the whole separation of boys and girls at that age, yet. Why would she? She's grown up playing with Max and Zach and Jake. There weren’t any other girls around. God, when she was going up to give him that card,...