Your son, eternally

I've been trying for some time to get my soon-to-be 86 year young Dad to write something to share here; he has so many great yesteryear stories and reflections about the life he lived in his journey down the superfitness highway in the fast lane.

One day soon I hope he will debut as the first old man to serve as a guest blogger at Pierini Fitness.  

Until his debut, here's a poem he recently wrote to his father - my grandfather - who went home to his Heavenly Father almost 40 years ago.

To Dad

Damn it dad, why did you go?
You told me one-hundred, and I believed you,
And all that went in to making you,
But you "tripped" before your time.

I remember the day, when I misbehaved,
And you placed your strong hand on my shoulder.
I may have wept.

But you are gone now, but not the hand,
Which, on this cold night, I kneel to kiss.

Eddie, your son, eternally

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Watermelon on his plate

I don't know what it's like in your part of the world but in mine it's finally hot as in temperature and that means watermelon season.

Actually, it's been watermelon season for a while in my world as I've never allowed mild temperature to keep me from overeating one of my favorite foods.

Watermelon is a gift from God so powerful that it can make a believer out of an atheist.

This watermelon season I've decided to only eat the watermelon I remember as a child - the seeded kind; anything else is genetically-modified and not as mother nature intended watermelon to be.

I've also decided to not let a soft economy prevent me from eating the best there is.  Lately I've been buying organic seeded watermelons at my local food cooperative known for its high prices.

Some people think I'm foolish to pay 69 cents a pound for it to which I reply that I only live once and deserve the finer things at this point in my middle-age man life.  I've got to splurge on something; besides, I can always buy cheap gas for my car to offset the cost of the gold standard watermelons I'm eating.

Put it right up there with bacon and beef jerky as bona-fide middle-age man snack food.

We grew up being told that the cereal Wheaties was the breakfast of champions and I'm here telling you right now that watermelon is the middle-age man fruit of champions.  A daily man-sized serving of it will keep you able to piss over a six-foot fence, one of the five tests that make up my middle-age man health and wellness exam.

Some men grab a beer for heat relief on a hot summer day but this middle-age man would rather have a big slice of watermelon on his plate.

Yes I will do it!

Recent blogflections here have shared my journey of being a retired runner who has come out of retirement with a goal by the end of this summer of running a 6:30 mile on an outdoor track.

I began my journey seven weeks ago on May 17th with a slow one mile run at about a 10 minute mile pace at a local park.  Training one to two days a week, primarily on the treadmill, last evening I had my first timed trial on an outdoor track when I ran the 1,500 meter distance at a local all comers track meet at the high school I attended 40 years ago.

How did I do?  I'm glad you asked.

I crossed the 1,500 meter finish line in 6:32 which is about a 6:57 mile.  My split times were 1:30 for 400 meters, 3:15 for 800 meters, 5:15 for 1,200 meters and 6:32 for 1,500 meters.

I went out too fast for the first lap, struggled for the third lap and ran about the correct pace for the second lap and final 300 meters of the race.  This proved to me and anyone else interested that despite the lack of reality of treadmill training, I'm capable of matching my best treadmill performance on the outdoor track.  One week earlier I ran one mile on the treadmill in 7:00 in my best treadmill performance since coming out of retirement.

The last day of summer this year is Friday, September 21st or 11 weeks to this day so I've got plenty of training time left to chase my end of summer goal.  Right now I'm feeling pretty good about last evening's effort and my training thus far.  Will I achieve my goal?  Yes, I will do it!

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum