Tuesday, December 28, 2010

2010 Wrap Up

Last night my daughter's schedule had me waking at about midnight, and again at around 5 A.M. My wife graciously agreed to rock the baby to sleep after I was done feeding her -- getting the baby to eat is easy, getting her to go back to sleep is something very different. This was the closest I have come to solid sleep in almost a month and consequently, I feel terrific. Therefore I have decided to note a few key things that stand out from 2010, in no particular order:
  1. Birth of my daughter -- Nothing can possibly prepare a person for what it means to be a parent. We are only 3.5 weeks into it but it has already been a complete transformation. I immediately fell in love with my girl and it only gets worse as time goes on.
  2. Wasatch Front 100 -- Besides #1 above, this is probably the baddest thing I have ever done in my entire life. Also similar to #1, I walked away from this a very different person. I can't really pinpoint what the change was but there is most decidedly a difference, for the better.
  3. Training required to get through #2 -- WF100 would not have been possible without a whole lot of training. I did things to prepare that hurt just thinking about.
  4. Pet Sounds/Smile -- I spent much of the summer listening to the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," and Brian Wilson's "Smile." They are both incredible.
  5. Fridays at Ohiopyle -- I took a vacation day almost every Friday for several weeks and drove to the biggest hills I had access to, on the Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail. I frequently found myself running out of water, in near triple digit temperatures, forcing me to get creative so I would not dehydrate on the 8 hilly miles back to the car, and die. This usually resulted in me drinking stream water.

Monday, December 27, 2010

more parenthood updates

It is nice to be back in the office today. There is nobody screaming at me because they are hungry, or have soiled themselves and are relying on me to rectify the situation. Despite this, I miss my little girl terribly and a certain portion of me wants to be at home right now with my wife, helping out with the baby.

Right now at home we are reading from the heralded works of Mr. Sheldon Silverstein (unapologetic hippie and former Playboy cartoonist), "Where the Sidewalk Ends." I am enjoying it more than my daughter I think. We also love to sing and dance and today I am going to burn a cd that is heavy with Chaka Khan, Prince, Zapp, and Stevie Wonder (she loves the Grateful Dead, we'll see how she does with 70's/80's R&B).

I positively refuse to force my dog to take a backseat during this extremely busy time. This is actually working out excellent because it forces me to get up early and get my running in, which the dog happily joins in on. This morning it had to be in the single digits with the wind chill, but there are no weather conditions that will prevent the dog from wanting to go outside. Luckily she is comfortable running trails in the dark, while I enjoy the luxury of the headlamp. Despite the cold, the trail conditions are basically perfect: an inch or so of dust on the top, and pretty solid footing underneath. I used to really enjoy, and am once again enjoying, starting out in the dark, and gradually seeing the sun come up.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

parenthood/running

I was able to get in two short runs so far as a parent. One was last night, the other this morning before everybody was up. The keys seem to be a strong headlamp (I use Black Diamond) and a willingness to run whenever the opportunity presents itself, often with little notice. Luckily the dog is very comfortable running snow covered trails in the dark, so I am able to get in a little time with my other little girl.

Baby is growing like a weed. She does little other than poo, pee, eat, and sleep. We do get a little bit of time to hang out together while she's awake. I like to spend it holding her (she likes to look at the Christmas tree lights), and I sing to her. She especially likes the Grateful Dead (mid 70's are popular right now in our house), and this morning we listened to the Bowie classic "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars."

My kid rules.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

A bit of history

Fifteen years ago today, I was here, which was my first time seeing this band. It obviously had a big impact on me because I spent a great deal of time and money chasing this band for the next several years.
For a generation of kids like me, all the stars were aligned: we were footloose and fancy free enough (read: had adequate funding to make it to the shows but nothing such as kids, spouses, or careers to tie us down) to follow around a band that had been around for a little over a decade, and was really hitting its stride. By the late 90's this band was taking major chances and we were witnessing history in the making. Some of the fondest memories of my youth are at Phish concerts (in particular the summer of 1998).
A cultural phenomenon like Phish in the 90's is a once in a lifetime occurrence and I am glad I was there for part of it. I would never trade in my life now for anything though, I am more than content right where I'm at. Mortgage payments, wife, dog to care for, and more poopy diapers at 3 AM than I care to remember.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Parenthood update

My life is, at least for the time being, completely being dictated by this little creature that is only half the size of my cats. I love my little girl though, I fell in love the split second the doctor put her in my arms.
Never thought that ONLY getting up once at 2:45 A.M., and being up for a solid hour, would feel like a night of solid sleep! I feel like a million bucks!
More work than any hundred miler but worth every sleepless second.