When Things Fall Apart

I’ve achieved a new personal record as we runners like to say.  I now have a small collection of little amber pill jars; 3 actually.  That’s the most I’ve ever had at one time.  My previous personal best in pill jar collecting was two and it usually came after oral surgery; antibiotics and the ever popular Vicodin. 

Lance and Fair Play

“I’m deeply sorry for what I did.” ~ Lance Armstrong.

“He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone..”  ~ Book of John; Chapter 8.

Let’s make one thing clear from the start; I loathe drug cheats in sports.  And that’s both ironic and understandable because three of my favorite sports, baseball, cycling and track and field, have made as many headlines about doping as they have about competition. 

Dis-HEART-ened

It’s Tuesday the 8^th and I’m in bed by 7:30.  On a normal evening I would be relaxing after dinner and feeling good about the day’s run.  It’s not a normal evening.  My heart is doing its version of the Macarena or the Rhumba.  It’s pretty much a middle-aged white guy version of one of those dances; or any dance for that matter.  You see, middle aged white guys are supposed to be notorious for not having rhythm; I’m a prime example.  And so that about describes what my heart is doing; it’s beating to no particular beat; out of rhythm.  It’s a condition known as atrial fibrillation.  Those of us with a more intimate knowledge of the disease refer to it contemptuously as a-fib.

Stepping Away from the Clif

“I don’t want to go to work on my last day,” she said wistfully.  “I just want to disappear.  I don’t want the sad goodbyes.”  It was the first emotion that I had really heard from her on the subject. 

It’s been a month since that conversation, though it seems like nearly half a year has passed.  We were driving to her office Christmas party; her last.  My wife’s last day at Clif Bar was just two weeks away.  She was retiring from the company that had just 32 employees when she first started 15 years ago; when it was still in the shadow of Power Bar.  Now Clif is a major player and the company boasts over 300 employees and still growing.