#20 - Going The Extra Mile (and a Half)

This year my entire family joined me on the Race for the Cure.  This is my 3rd 5K during this 101/1001 cycle and I had expected it to be my 4th.  I was not in shape for the Metroparks 5K that I had done for the last 2 years this summer and I skipped it.  This means I need to run 3 next year if I'm going to meet my goal.  We'll see.  I'm going to have to keep my training up through the winter so I can be ready when the weather breaks in the spring.  This was my problem this year. 

I ran most of the 5K, but my feet really started going numb and I had to walk for 5 minutes near the end to get the circulation back in them.  I was able to finish running.  This year the race course looped on itself in such a way that I could go quickly from the finish line to the halfway mark and catch up with my wife and 3 kids who were walking the entire course.  I was able to finish their leg with them (and carry my 4 year old on my shoulders for part of it) which was a real treat.

In my age group I finished 93rd out of 93 racers (1942nd overall) with an official time of 45:02.75, much slower than last year's pace.  The race attracted over 18,000 racers officially and was very inspirational.  Next year I'll be better.

#50 - There When He Needs You

Kids don't come with manuals. It's a cliche, but it's true.  Many authors have attempted to fill in this gap however.  I recently read a book by Dr. Neil Bernstein that I thought was particularly good.  In There When He Needs You, Dr. Bernstein speaks primarily to fathers about raising their sons.  He describes the father-son dynamic as a distinct relationship that is influenced greatly by the previous generation.  In other words, we are influenced by the way we were raised by our fathers when we try to parent our sons.  While his focus is on this dynamic, I imagine this holds true for the mother-daughter relationship too, as well as influences father-daughter and mother-son dynamics.  He is a psychologist who recounts stories of men and their sons and how he helped them, and sometimes couldn't helpthem, work through their issues. 

His top 10 Tips for Dads include:
1) Strike a comfortable balance between career and family.
2) Make peace with your own father.
4) Be "all there" when you're with your son.
8) Acknowledge your own shortcomings and encourage your son to do the same.

The other 6 tips are good too and he fleshes them out well in the chapters.  There is even a chapter that advises mothers in ways to help their husbands become better fathers.  If any of this advice might apply to you, check out this book.

#33 - Infinity. It'll blow your mind.

I thought it would be fun to design a t-shirt.  I'm not much of an artist, so I thought I would come up with some sort of cute saying or deep "bumper sticker" insight.  My wife and I have been enjoying The Big Bang Theory on CBS and the geeky protagonists wear geeky t-shirts.  Being accused of geekiness (or dorkiness?) myself, I decided to try my hand.  I have enjoyed messing with boys about the concept of infinity.  Some of the confusion around the concept is that the symbol (8 on its side) is used to represent the concept, but it is not actually a number.  If you use it in equations like a number, you math comes out all wrong.  I illustrate one example on the shirt.  I may try my hand at a few other.  I'm hosting my shirt at Zazzle.com.  Check it out at Infinity T-shirt.