Surviving the end of 2007

What started out to be a relaxing and quiet end to the year made some interesting turns right at the finish. My wife had some late night pains last Saturday. After a few hours, she realized that she needed to go to the ER. That was a good thing, ended up she had gall stones and they had to do emergency surgery Sunday afternoon. New Years eve for her was in bed early (after getting released from the hospital late that afternoon) with a couple of oxycodine. She's doing much better a week later, but needs to take things slow for a while.

I made the commitment to run the Eugene Marathon. I'm excited about it. The course basically lays out the trails and roads that I ran on 20+ years ago when I was at South Eugene. I wanted to do a race down there last year, but held off since the one I wanted to do was a tough course (Butte to Butte). This is my homecoming. In some regards, this is more special to me than Boston. This is where the next Olympians will be chosen. Eugene is the true birthplace for running and this race is in the footsteps of legends. The spirits of Pre, Bill and Tom McChesney, and Bowerman are all along this course. The likes of Salazar, Chappa, Decker-Slaney, Manley, Dillinger, and a host of others past and present ran these roads and trails.

Now, if I only could get my hands on a SEHS Axeman singlet...

Footnote: Quick update on my birth father. Seems like the years of working in the auto environment has caught up to him. He has cancer, most likely caused by exposure to asbestos brake pad dust combined with second hand smoke, gasoline and diesel exhaust. They say he may have a few months with treatment, but I'm still thinking that it's going to be more like a few weeks. I made my peace with myself, that's all that matters to me.