Howell Road

In the summer of 1977 I went over to Andy Dufour’s house a few times for runs to get ready for the upcoming cross country season. He lived on Howell Road, across Maple Street from West Georgia College and not far from our house on West Club Drive.

I don’t remember if I met Andy’s neighbor, an incoming freshman at Carrollton High School, that summer. Her father was a professor at the college, as was Andy and his sister Susan’s. I would see her a lot the following spring. I was on the boys’ track team, and she and Susan were on the girls’ track team. Her mother was my geometry teacher, and sometimes she’d drop by before or after class.

She was a smart, attractive girl, so I decided to invite Kathy Gingrich to the 1978 prom. A week or two before the prom we went out to see the movie “Turning Point.” I remember picking her up at their Howell Road house, and the Gingriches (Kathy has a younger sister) were watching a Hitchcock movie.

We did the pre-prom dinner at Danyel’s, Carrollton’s French restaurant, and had a good time at the prom. That was our last date. I didn’t follow up. It was a difficult time. My father and stepmother were married the month before, and that was a huge adjustment.

Kathy came to a few of our cross country meets that fall. Her father was elected to Congress that November, and she moved to Washington. Our paths didn’t cross again.

When her father became Speaker of the House in 1995, I saw a story in the Greensboro newspaper about Kathy. She was living in Greensboro then, married to a tennis coach and running a coffee shop.

When I joined Facebook in 2009, I friended Kathy. We exchanged a couple of messages, mainly about marathons. We’ve both done a few. She has rheumatoid arthritis, so it’s amazing that she can walk that far for hers.

I didn’t know Kathy that well. I haven’t talked to her since high school, but she was among the first of the girls and women I dated and befriended who led me, all those years later, to the woman I married.

I’ve followed her father’s career with interest all these years.  I couldn’t vote for him, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins the nomination. I’ve read that Kathy is one of his top advisers. That makes sense.

 

Downstairs dog

Our dog Sandy lived the first 7 1/2 years of her life without stairs. The only steps she saw in my Durham house were short ones to go up on the backyard deck.

That all changed when my wife, Sandy, and I moved into our Cary home in April 2007. There were steps to get out of the house in the front, back, and garage. And there was a big staircase leading to the bedrooms upstairs, including Sandy’s. She initially was afraid of the big staircase, but soon had no trouble going up and down it.

Sandy was diagnosed with arthritis in fall 2010, but she had no trouble getting up and down the stairs. Usually, if we were upstairs, that’s where she wanted to be, or if we were downstairs,  she’d want to be there. She always wanted to come upstairs at night and down in the morning for her walk. Sometimes we’d put the gate up downstairs when we left her for the day, but she figured out how to go through the swinging door in the dining room and end up upstairs. During thunderstorms, she always wanted to go upstairs for the safety of our bedroom closet.

Before we left Sandy at the veterinarian for our Christmas trip, we noticed her hobbling around. In the past, she has pulled a leg muscle a couple of times. We thought it might be that, or her arthritis getting worse. But the doctor said she tore her ACL and needed surgery. Her surgery will be this week.

So now Sandy’s a downstairs dog. We’ve gated off the staircase. The first few nights she cried about being left downstairs alone. She still doesn’t like it, but she’s gotten used to it. She has a ramp now for the backyard steps. We used to go out the front door for our walks, so she’s adjusting to that, too.

Sandy has always been an energetic dog, and some of that energy is still there. She still loves her walks, but just can’t go as far. She’s sleeping a lot more. And she’ll never make it upstairs again.

A good time and a good time

Running marathons can be a good way to visit and experience a lot of different places. My wife and I have run marathons in Richmond, the Outer Banks, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and Charleston. Friends of ours have run races in such locales as Hawaii, Alaska, Greece, and Peru.

Our latest running excursion, two weekends ago, took us to Scranton, Pa., for the Steamtown Marathon. We were hoping, as usual, to have a good trip and have good finishing times – a good time and a good time.

The first good time is a lot easier. Even if the runs don’t go as well as we hope, the trips have always been enjoyable. Northern Wisconsin had great fall colors and community charm for our 2008 marathon, we got to see the crowds from Jon Stewart’s rally in Washington on our 2010 marathon trip, and we got engaged at the Outer Banks on our 2006 marathon trip. On our trip to Charleston for our January marathon, we stayed with friends on Kiawah Island and walked with them on the beach on the day after the marathon.

Neither of us had been to Scranton before our marathon there. Many of our running friends had done that marathon and recommended it to us. Supposedly it’s a “fast” marathon course with a lot of downhill. Several of our running friends decided to run it this year.

We got up there late Friday afternoon before the Sunday race. We had dinner that night with some of our running friends. The next day we were going to go to the marathon expo and look around Scranton a little.

Downtown Scranton was more interesting than I expected. They do a nice job of preserving their older buildings, and there was some unique architecture, particularly the county courthouse, city hall, and civic center (which used to be a Masonic temple). I wish we would have had time to go back and tour the civic center, but we tried to walk from downtown to the expo and had a hard time finding it. Later that afternoon, we did make it to the Steamtown historic park, a train museum. That was well worth our time.

As for the race itself, Carolyn had some heat and stomach problems and was disappointed with her time. The recurring foot problems I’ve had this season cropped back up around mile 18. I was well off of my goal time, three hours and 30 minutes, but my finish of 3:51 was still a good time. If I could have stayed with my pacer, I would have made my goal. She ended up with a 3:32.

Carolyn and I still enjoyed the race. It’s one of the best-run that I’ve done. Everything is well-organized, and there’s a lot of community support along the course. The course takes you through several small communities before you get to Scranton. I enjoyed seeing that part of northeastern Pennsylvania. My pacer said she, her husband, and a running friend enjoyed visiting some nearby antique shops on the day before the race.

There are some limits on what you can do on a marathon trip. You don’t want to tire yourself out before the race, and after the race you don’t feel like walking around much. You can see a lot of a city and area during the race. I try to enjoy the scenery and take it in as much as I can.

I’ve started looking to see where we can go for next fall’s marathon. We want somewhere that’s not likely to be warm on race day. A “fast” course and a well-run race would be preferrable. And a nice place to visit (without spending too much money) would be good, too. So far I like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Lowell, Mass. (near Boston), and Toronto. I’m leaning toward Toronto. I’ve never been to Canada, except for a day trip to Victoria (near Seattle).

Legwork

You can’t run a good marathon without putting in the necessary legwork. With just two weeks to go before our next marathon, the toughest legwork is behind us for me and my wife. I just hope it’s enough for a good race for both of us.

We both had our longest training runs last weekend. I ran a little more than 24 miles. Carolyn ran 26. We were supposed to start dialing back after that, but each of us did something a little tougher than the usual tapering this past weekend. I ran 8 miles at 30 seconds a mile faster than my marathon goal pace (7 1/2-minute miles compared to 8-minute goal pace). Carolyn ran a 5K race at her usual 5K pace, then ran 5 miles after that.

I wanted to get in one more tough training run before easing up. It was tough. These next couple of weeks I’ll just run three 4-mile pace runs and an easy 8-mile run next Saturday. No more heavy straining in this training season.

I did do a little extra training this season – some lap swimming and a toning exercise class. I should be better conditioned for this race. 

It’s been a tough season. We’ve had some brutally hot weather and a couple of heavy rainstorms. I’ve battled my most significant injury, a milder form of plantar fasciitis. After this marathon and a half-marathon in early November, I plan on taking a few months off from running.

I’m not sure what to expect from this marathon, Steamtown in Scranton, Pa. It’s supposed to be a fast course, if you don’t start too fast. I’ll be aiming for three hours and 30 minutes, 14 minutes faster than my personal record. This time I’ll have someone running with me from my training pace group. That should help a lot, especially those last 6.2 miles.

Two weeks from today, it’ll all be finished. We’ll find out if all of that legwork has paid off.

 

‘Baywatch’ dialogue

Sporting News’ website quotes an Oregon football player comparing preseason rankings to dialogue in “Baywatch”: “You need them to keep the show going, but they don’t mean anything to anyone except nerds.”

Amid the bad economy, the bad politics, and the bad weather, college football season is especially welcome this year. Next weekend we can start talking about the action on the field rather than just the “Baywatch dialogue.”

As usual, I’m hoping for a good year for my Georgia Bulldogs. I’m hoping they finish closer to the predictions of Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gazette, and Pete Di Primo of the Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel, than to those of Andy Staples of SI.com or Joe Giglio of my local (Raleigh) News and Observer. Hlas and Di Primo both picked Georgia to finish No. 11 in the AP poll. Staples predicts Georgia to finish 6-6. Giglio doesn’t think Georgia will make the top 25. Seth Emerson, who covers Georgia for the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer has the Bulldogs at No. 22. That seems about right to me.

I was optimistic this time of year the last two years – before 8-5 and 6-7 seasons. So it’s wait and see this year, although they should be better. We’ll find out soon enough with the first two games against Boise State and South Carolina, which could be the best two teams Georgia plays all year.

There are a lot fewer distractions this season than the last two years. This year there are no key player suspensions early in the season. That had to have hurt the team the last couple of years.

The defense should be a lot better. Last season they were implementing a new scheme with a new coordinator. They looked good at times last season, but tended to give up big plays. Everyone was learning new assignments and some guys were adjusting to new positions. This season there are talented guys with experience with some talented young guys giving the veterans a push.

The  offense needs some playmakers need to step up. We need to use the tight ends more. There’s talent at wide receiver that’s mostly underperformed along with a couple of gifted rookies. There’s another gifted rookie at running back with a lot of potential. A major plus is a proven quarterback who only lacks some big-game wins.

Special teams should be strong, with a great kicker, punter, and kick returner. Some of our toughest games – South Carolina, Mississippi State, and Auburn – will be at home this year (with Boise State in Atlanta), and we don’t play Alabama or LSU. And hopefully, we’ll see improvement in late-game conditioning, a weakness in recent years and the focus of an off-season shake-up.

But the main thing Georgia needs this year is a change in attitude. They need to get tougher and more consistent. They need to make a lot more big plays than they give up. They need to win the big games and the tough games. The talent is there to do it.

Mardy and Sandman

Twenty-five years ago next month, I was just three years into my newspaper career while Johnny Sands was nearing the end of his. Johnny, better known as Sandman, became my first boss as a professional copy editor. Mardy Jackson came to The Augusta Chronicle as a reporter around the same time.

I haven’t thought about them in a while, but they’ve come to mind the last couple of weeks. A couple of years ago I joined a Facebook group of people who worked at the Chronicle in the 1980s and 1990s. I’d look at the postings every once in a while. Then a couple of weeks ago, posts started coming in about Sandman being in the hospital with updates about how he’s doing.

The Sandman news seemed to spur a lot of activity in the group. It’s been like a virtual reunion recently with former co-workers weighing  in with old stories, memories, photos, and updates. There’s been some chatter about having an actual reunion sometime.

An update that got my attention was the news that Mardy had died of lung cancer in 2005. She was just 57. Mardy and I were at the Chronicle in generally the same time period. I’m not sure when she started there, but it must have been 1986 or 1987. We both left there in 1993. Most of her time at the Chronicle she was a bureau chief in an adjoining county.  She was a great reporter and fun to be around – famous for her dirty jokes.

When I was looking to buy my first house I settled on a nice little place on Starnes Street in Augusta. Mardy was the owner of that house. I didn’t know it until I saw the paperwork. I moved in in February 1993. She moved to Cheraw, S.C., to become publisher and editor of the paper there. Except for a peachy color that I would have changed, I really liked that house. Unfortunately I didn’t live there long. A job opportunity came up in North Carolina, and I moved up here that October.

In the Facebook group, a former reporter mentioned that a former colleague had written a column about Mardy’s funeral. I found the column, and it was nicely done. Tommy’s column said Mardy had met a farmer and left the newspaper business to help on the farm. She and Stanley were involved with their community and helped start a volunteer fire department. Mardy’s lung cancer was one of the 10 percent which hit people who never smoked.

My time at the Chronicle overlapped with Sandman for just two years. Before coming to the Chronicle I had wanted to be a reporter, but they offered me a job as assistant wire editor and I figured that at the age of 25 I’d try copy editing and see if I liked it.

Sandman was an old school newspaperman. He first came across as gruff, but he was actually softhearted. He was famous for coming up with “Arnie’s Army,” referring to Arnold Palmer’s fans, in the 1960s. He taught me a lot about the craft and got me hooked on being a wire editor. I would end up doing a lot of different roles in the newspaper business, but wire editor was the one I liked the most and fit me the best.

Sandman was a great boss. I enjoyed working with him. Often he’d join the guys for drinks afterward. He took a lot of good-natured ribbing. He was an interesting guy who loved his pope, sports, and being a wire editor.

I worked for him about a year. They asked me in 1987 to become a swing copy editor, rotating among the metro, features, and wire desks. Sandman would end up retiring in 1988. He would tutor one more wire editor after me. I felt fortunate to have been one of his proteges, and that experience shaped the rest of my newspaper career. It had such an impact that when I got a puppy years later – in 1999 – I decided to call her “Sandy.” She’s my ongoing tribute to Sandman.

Injury alert

I’ve tried rolling a frozen bottle of water underfoot, adding arch support insoles to my running shoes, and using KT tape. I even skipped a couple of runs last week and ran fewer miles than scheduled yesterday. Hopefully I can get back on track for my training schedule with three months left before my marathon.

In my seventh year of marathon training I’ve managed to avoid injuries. I’ve always had calf soreness during races and some training runs, but that’s about it. I’ve been fortunate but also careful about not overdoing it.

Last fall, I had a disappointing marathon finish and felt like I didn’t have enough endurance to reach my goal. I added mileage to my training regimen for a January marathon and had a much better finish. So I’ve been trying to add mileage for this training season as well.

I’ve also added some strength training and swimming this season. I’ve done a class once a week that targets different muscle groups, including many that I haven’t worked on in a while, such as in my arms and core. I’ve also tried swimming laps once a week. That’s something I’ve never done regularly. I think I’m seeing some good results so far.

I’ve also tried a hillier running course once a week and adding more mileage earlier in the season. That seemed to be working, although I was having a little more trouble with my calves and starting to have some foot soreness.

A week ago Saturday I ran 14 miles. I felt fine during the run, but the foot soreness came back afterward. I was planning to run 6 to 8 miles on the Fourth of July, but felt wobbly on my feet when I woke up. I decided it was best to skip that run. That’s when I started the frozen water bottle treatment, then bought the shoe inserts, and tried the KT tape. I ran 4 slower-than-usual miles on Friday and 8 miles on Saturday at a good pace. The feet (especially the stronger right foot) are feeling better.

I’m hoping I can ease back into my training this week and that preventive measures can head off any significant problem. It’s a balancing act to push yourself hard enough without overstraining. And now we’re dealing with the oppressive summer heat and humidity as well. I’ve known plenty of people who have suffered running injuries. I don’t want to be one of them.

 

Giraffes at 60

A friend of ours wanted to see giraffes on her 60th birthday. Not at a distance, but face to face and to feed them at the zoo. Her husband told me recently that she has always been fascinated by giraffes.

Her birthday was Thursday, and she got her wish. My wife, who is in between sessions in her teaching, was able to go with her to the state zoo. They got a chance to see a couple of giraffes up close  and feed them leaves on branches. They had a good time.

Within the last couple of months, we’ve had four friends celebrate their 60th birthday. They’re all part of our marathon training group. One of our friends hosted a party Saturday for them and a few younger folks with June birthdays.

Sixty’s not so old anymore. I have several friends who are well into their 60s now. The running friends who just turned 60 are going strong. One of them last fall qualified for her first time for the Boston Marathon.

All four of them are in career transitions. One will retire after one final week as a teaching assistant. One started a new permanent job in January after doing some contract work and looking awhile for a permanent position. One is shifting to a dream job after a job working a lot of weekends and overtime. Our giraffe-loving friend has a contract position and is looking for a permanent position. Career transitions at that age seem fairly common these days. A lot of folks are retiring early or trying to shift gears in their career.

I came along 10 years after these new sexagenarians. They were born in 1951; me in 1961. Their earliest memories would be from the mid-’50s; mine from the mid-’60s. They were in high school in the late ’60s; me in the late ’70s. They would have clear memories of JFK’s assassination, civil rights protests, Vietnam, and the emergence of the Beatles. I can remember the Bobby Kennedy and King assassinations, Watergate, the oil embargo, and the emergence of cable TV.

Just 10 years earlier, their world growing up was a lot different from mine. And, of course, mine was a lot different than that of someone born in 1971, 1981, or 1991. After all, I was well into my 30s before I got my first own computer and cell phone.

An eco trip

I never knew that “Mexico” meant “navel of the moon.” That’s what our guide told us at Chichen Itza during our recent trip to the Yucatan.

The word came from another native language, but it had resonance there in the land of the Mayans. It’s amazing how advanced they were more than a thousand years ago in astronomy as well as construction, language, rituals, trading, and other fields. It’s amazing how much of Chichen Itza and other pre-Columbian sites are still standing in such good condition.

So much of what we saw in Mexico is thankfully being preserved and restored. The Mayan sites at Chichen Itza and Tulum. A national park with wonderful reefs where we snorkeled off the coast of Cozumel. A 16th-century colonial hacienda now being run as a green hotel.

The Hacienda Chichen, on the outskirts of the Chichen Itza site, didn’t even have a TV in our room. But there was a lot of greenery in and around the cottage and throughout the site. Fresh fruit. Birds everywhere. An iguana, a deer, a weasel.  

The hacienda also supports the local Mayan community. Many Mayans work there. The hotel donates money to Mayan foundations and groups. And it operates a Mayan spa offering various treatments based on Mayan traditions. Their cacao treatment with Mayan rituals was a unique, soothing experience. Carolyn enjoyed her hair and facial treatment as well. 

Our hotel in Playa del Carmen also had a lot of nice greenery with a tropical garden courtyard and rooftop terrace. And despite being  just a block away from the main tourist street, it was quiet and peaceful.

We got around on buses and in taxis. That was a good way to see the countryside and the natives. There was a lot of poverty and tiny houses, but also some interesting and colorful towns and villages. Almost everyone was friendly and helpful.

We avoided the Senor Frogs,  the Cuban cigars, the jewelry stores, and Haagen-Dazses (lots of them in Playa del Carmen). There was a great chocolate shop in Playa; some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had. We had some great local cuisine in Playa, the hacienda, and Cozumel. We found out that Mexican “medium” sauce is way too hot for our tastes. The fresh Mexican fruit was really good.

It’s nice to experience and learn about a unique culture when you travel. It’s  even better when you can combine that with great natural scenery and top it off with great economical value as we did in Mexico.

The old days

When Ron Landfried retired from The Herald-Sun a couple of years ago, he called the newspaper business “a great way to spend a few decades.” That was mostly true for me as well, although my last couple of years in the business weren’t quite as great.

Ron passed away 10 days ago after a long battle with cancer. Former colleagues at the newspaper gathered Friday at a Durham restaurant in honor of him and a retired circulation manager who also died recently. I saw several former co-workers there whom I hadn’t seen in a while.

That brought back to mind the old days at the paper – for me, dating back to when I started there in 1993. We had some sharp people, had some fun, and did some good work there. It was a good place to work, with a family atmosphere where employees were treated well.

The atmosphere changed with new ownership in 2005. A lot of talented people left. The staff shrunk considerably. We still did some good work, but the overall quality dropped. An out-of-state corporation replaced the local family. My last year, in particular, saw the newshole dry up and the copy desk cut in half.

As a national and world news editor, I had one last big story with the election and inauguration of Barack Obama. A few months later, two years ago today, I was laid off and my newspaper career was over. I was stunned, but not too surprised.

Despite some setbacks along the way, it was a great way to earn a living for almost 26 years. I never made a lot of money and had to work nights, weekends, and most holidays. It was often hectic and typically stressful. But it was rarely dull, usually challenging, and frequently fascinating. I worked with a lot of interesting people in my newspaper career.

After my layoff, I only applied for a couple of journalism jobs and didn’t seriously consider staying in the business. I was ready to move on and try another kind of editing. I’ll always be interested in the news business and hope it remains viable. Journalism has a key role in serving as a government watchdog and enlightening its readers/audience on important issues. I’m glad I had a chance to play a part in that for a few decades.