David Ian's Home

My crazy wonderful half marathon series continues - gear in place for the Halloween Philly R&R Half - plus a bonus for running Brooklyn!

A but nutty, yes maybe, but that is the nature running, especially at long distances.

Nothing is more serene than the closely bunched runners just prior to the start of a half or full marathon - they get and share the zany magic of it all.

Pictured is my official “stuff” - bib, timing strip & tee - for this year’s running of the Philadelphia Rock & Roll Half Marathon, which take place this Saturday morning - Halloween!

Also in the pic is the special running shirt, with the running skeleton, that I plan to wear…

…and also, a bonus, the special Brooklyn-Philly hoodie it received today along with the official gear…

… just ran the Brooklyn R&R Half three weeks ago…

 …and in one more week, the Savannah R&R Half - boooo - crazy fun!

 

Of crabcakes, orioles & a great start to Father's Day w/e....

A truly wonderful start to Father's Day weekend - spending the day in one of my hometowns with my son - tooling around the Inner Harbor of Baltimore together.

On a perfect June Saturday, we enjoyed great crabcakes at an outdoor cafe.....

.....Then the awesome beauty of the harbor......

......Then, #Birdland - Oriole Park @ Camden Yards - paradise for a baseball fans - super game in this modern/olde shrine to our pastime - one understands why it is so when here.....

.....Best of all, we walk away extra happy as the Orioles beat the Jays in a nail biter - Birdland indeed!!!!!

Sweet puppy pics - chilling after a full Spring day of yardwork, barking, running, licking, romping, stomping.....

Peanut finally at rest after a full doggie Saturday......

Early to rise early on a beautiful Spring morning, reported for duty to help with a round of yard cleaning.....

But had to keep breaking away - at full speed of course - to run and bark and chase all neighbors passing by.

Just over a year old with lots of puppy energy, and so busy, back and forth, helping & chasing......

Finally, work done, but still glorious outside, toys & bowls inside - still so busy, romp & stomp, chomp & lick......

Finally, exhausted & spent, time to crash......

Sent from my iPhone

This very wicked Halloween vixen spent way too much time under the mistletoe

Okay, it's last year's mistletoe - and I promise I'll have fresh up there in time for this Christmas (much more effective, but that's another story) - but this lady needs to give up.....

.....Except, we'll leave her hanging there until Halloween - she'll give a nice reception to the lil goblins ringing our door for trick or treat.

Don't you just love Halloween?! Perfect excuse to become delightfully unbalanced - so refreshing!!!

A big thank you to the wonderful people from Camp Abilities PA @ West Chester University!

 A big thank you to the wonderful people from Camp Abilities PA @ West Chester University.  At a recent event hosted by the West Chester Lions & the Young Lions of West Chester, I was leading a discussion about partnering with other “healthy community” organizations, and my wonderful friends from the WCU Camp Abilities arrived right on queue.  Their timely arrival and remarks highlighted the power of caring people working together to truly make a difference in the lives of others – angels they are!

 

Camp Abilities PA @ WCU is a developmental sports camp for children ages 7-17 who are blind or have low vision.  I had the opportunity to work with them over that past year as local district governor of the Lions, topped off my getting the chance to see them in action over this past Memorial Day weekend. 

 

It was so completely rewarding to see the impact these loving people have on the lives on others – nothing could be more worthwhile!  Beyond that, witnessing all these outstanding young people participate in a real triathlon was truly amazing.

 

They are now planning, and we the Lions are helping with, a “Wellness Day”, which will be another opportunity for all of us who care about giving back to both help this beautiful cause and to see the results first hand.  It is being planned for this October – date, time and details to follow.

 

Please stay tuned as this develops, and check them out at their website:  http://www.campabilitiespa.org/.

All consumed at the Y

I love the late morning, mid-week groupings of people at the Y. Sometimes, like today, I work early in my home office, then hit the Y on the way into the "real" office. It's really interesting to feel the comradery of the diverse gatherings:

One of my favorite is the area for the little children - fully on display in their "pen" as the rest of us go to and fro.

They are consumed in their own play and earnest conversations, watched carefully by the young adult minders. There are always a few parents and grandparents settled nearby on benches, just taking that all in.

The rush hour'ers are long gone, but the the fitness area is full of moms busy toning their beautiful bods on a needed break from the kids, a good group of "entrepreneurs" doing much the same during a break from our business, and of course the "oldies" (not me of course - defined here by relativity: those at least ten years older!) - love them - so jolly, so social. They get in quick workouts, link up with friends, then re-gather around tables in the coffee area.

All the while and all around on flat screen tv's, the zealots of the 24 hour news cycle rant, rage and analyze about the burning issues - while us, the gym zealots, the zealots of healthy living, we absorb all of that, or totally ignore it, at our leisure and pleasure.

There is always plenty of that available, with which we will surely re-engage when ready!!

Musings on Runners' & Bikers' View: The Runners Village

 Okay, I get it - we all tend to view things from our own little corner of the world.  As a runner (5k to multiple marathons), now somewhat of a biker (my wife and I stepped up from Sears best to Trek Fx's, now out with the “true” crazies – whew, what a different world from runners!!!).  It’s really interesting how taking a cross-section of the general population, and immersing them in these extremely popular activities, can affect their behavior.

For instance, starting with runners, whom I know better, there is nothing so peaceful and comfortable as the “runners village”.  An assembly of runners, all bunched together about to do this crazy thing together – the bigger the event, longer the run - the more this seems true. 

Before the Boston Marathon, the organizers went to great lengths to create, physically, a true village for this very special gathering. It was wonderful!  It felt like a fair or outdoor concert, everyone either sitting or laying about ontheir blankets spread out on the grass, sun shining, or milling about, quietly, awaiting their turn to start.  Huge excitement temperent by the enormity of the understaking, and in this case, the extemely special stature of the event itself.

Even for the shorter and regular local 5k’s and 10k’s, this awesome spirit exists – try a jingle bell run around the holidays - join in with others all decked out in antlers and bells, and even with an occasional full-costumed Santa, all part of the running “tribe”.  Nothing as nutty as running in snow and ice to bring people together! 

And that’s the point about a runner’s view of the world – a grouping of people who may very likely clash verbally right just the same as our illustrious political leaders on the burning issues of the day – that same bunch just gets “homogenized”, at least for a short time, into a delightful gentle/achieving/crazy bunch.

Now, with a much more limited experience as a biker (it's even arguable whether we are truly bikers - that point of potential conflict is so in keeping with the very nature of bikers) - fundamental differences with runners appear right off the bat.  All the built in dividers and conflicts are so apparent:  bikers vs. motorists, bikers at different level of expenditure and seriousness – all with the wildly varying outfits they wear to “mark” themselves.

 

Enough for tonight – will add more in the future – let me know your thoughts!!

Special Family Time: Our Costa Rican Zip Line Adventure

Our family just finished a very special time together on a great vacation in Costa Rica. 

 

Our daughter graduated from college in early May, and we enjoyed having extra time with her for a few weeks before she started working in the “real world”. 

 

The wind-up to that time was this fabulous vacation. 

For all of you with younger children, it is definitely possible, and certainly fantastic to spend good times together right on into adulthood. 

We have had many wonderful family vacations and gatherings over the years – most of them extended family, including the grandparents (for eighteen years in a row, we all went, three generations of us, for a full week to Cape May as the kids were growing, but that’s for another post). 

 

We have continued to enjoy memorable times together as the kids have progressed thru the college years and beyond.  I’ll add more on this special family time in upcoming posts, but for now, I just want to highlight the best adventure we had in Costa Rica – the Zip Line.  

It began with us riding ATV’s for a good hour – along the Pacific coast beach, through a small village called Flamingo, and up into hills. 

 

The zip-line location was called the Congo line, apply named for the true rainforest environment we found ourselves in, and the many forms of wildlife – including monkeys!

Our adventure involved “zipping” along a total of eleven lines – metal cables running from one tree to another, with small metal landings at the start and finish of each line.  We were literally at the top of the rainforest canopy, with drop-offs and views that really took your breath away.

 

   

The longest line was about a football field in length, but we began with a few much shorter ones as we learned the technique. 

 

We were each fitted with a harness, including a strap was hooked to a pulley on the “line” as we began each run.  A guide would get us in position; advise us to use one gloved hand to hold that strap, with the other hand in position over the metal line to use as a break when needed. 

 

Once positioned correctly, the guide would simply let go of us and gravity did the rest.  Zip is certainly the correct word, because each line angled downwards from start to ending, we really did pick up a lot a speed fast.

After a couple runs like that, we came to some longer ones, and one of the guides then asked who would like to go upside down – that is, forget all about this proper procedure we were just taught, and just hang from your feet with no use of your  hands at all. 

 

They would only allow two at a time to go upside down – extra guides were positioned to make sure we didn’t kill ourselves.  Our son and daughter stepped right up to be the first to do this, and my wife and followed immediately after on the next run. 

What a thrill – you really are up high in the canopy, you get going super fast – just let go!!!!  Any inhibitions you had going in are certainly gone. 

 

 

 

For the same Brant family that jumped off a cliff together in Jamaica a few years ago, it was another proud and crazy accomplishment!

October Baseball - the Yankees in Person and the Phillies in the Tavern

I had a great and interesting day yesterday, traveling to the new Yankee Stadium with my wife to see the Yankees and Twins in the opening game of there American League Division Series.  I live in the Philadelphia area, am a loyal Phillies fan, and knew I would miss most of their opening NLDS game with the Rockies while in transit to the Bronx. 

 

I wasn’t particularly happy about that, but was thrilled at the opportunity to see such a big game in person.  Having been born in New York City, plus the fact that my first major league game was one my Dad took me took me to when we still lived in that area; this was an extra big deal for me yesterday.

 

As it turned out, we had the best of both worlds.  We arrived outside Yankee Stadium a couple of hours before the game.  We figured what we needed was a good bar with a TV.  We found one only a block or so from the stadium on 161^st Street – Yankee Tavern.  The place was already crowded, but it was a great bar, with all kinds of Yankee memorabilia, and best of all, the Phillies and Twins on the television.

 

We ordered ourselves an Oktoberfest and a Coke and settled in to watch several innings as the Phillies built up a big lead.  In our interesting virtual world, we kept extra busy in the bar texting with our kids.  They are both grown, one back in Philly and the other off in Boston, and were watching the game, too.  It was good virtual family time, via social media, as we all enjoyed cheering our Phillies together.

 

That done, we headed back across the street and had a fantastic time watching an exciting game as the Yankees won big and took the lead in their series.