Grandkids, Pitchers, Catchers, and Runners...Oh My!!

“It's the fans that need spring training. You gotta get 'em interested. Wake 'em up and let 'em know that their season is coming, the good times are gonna roll.”
Harry Caray

Well, here I am in chilly, though not freezing-your-butt-off-cold, Boston, as my wife and I descend on Michael, Joanie, and our two grandkids, Adam & Emma. It is amazing how fast they grow up - Adam & Emma, not Michael and Joanie - to where Adam (almost 2 and a half) can hold almost a complete conversation (or argument), and Emma (6 months) has a personality to (try to) wrap me around her little finger. We try to make this trip every two months, and I increasingly don't understand how a family with more than 2 kids can ever come out of it in any resemblance of sanity, or be able to ever function as a useful member of society following being a multiple parent. I think China has it all wrong trying to limit each family to one child. I mean if they don't want their people to rebel, keep them busy raising a family instead of having time to think independently and coming up with ways to be a thorn in the Government's butt.

Tomorrow, (Sunday), is one of those days that to some, seems to be a turning point in the seasons of the year. I am one of those twisted, dwindling few. For, tomorrow, pitchers and catchers report for Major League Baseball's Spring Training in Florida or Arizona. From when I was a little boy (yeah, yeah, I know...a hundred years ago...real funny...just get it out of your system), the beginning of baseball season meant a start of hating the Yankees, loving the NY Giants as a little guy, and then when they sold their collective souls to the devil and moved to California in '58, moving my allegiance to the Mets. Once I moved away from New Jersey in '65, like a glacier, my love for the Mets has been gradually waning and been supplanted by the greatest Anti-Yankee team of them all - the Boston Red Sox. I don't have a lifelong history as a Red Sox fan, but the Yanks - UGH!!! There is no trying to hide my disdain for them. I don't even want to treat patients in my clinic if they're wearing a Yankee hat! Ok, I'm just kidding with them, but I let them know I might just turn that Electrical Stimulation Unit up a notch or two during their treatment. But, beginning tomorrow, we'll have baseball in one form or other every day until November. Now, living in Alabama, that doesn't hold even a tiny candle to the inordinate amount of coverage college football gets, but I don't fight that. I just try to pass it off as best I can and I just wait around till some ump yells "Play Ball". And if anybody out there has any openings in their fantasy league, give ol' Coach Al a call. If I can win my Football Fantasy League when I don't know what the heck I'm doing, then look out!

It's pretty obvious that my post-Mercedes Marathon, play-with-the-grandkids, wait-for-baseball-season-to-start, mind is not on running, but I did want to hand it to all those folks that ran the Mercedes last week. Cold start (19 F), but really great weather. Wonderful organization as usual from Val McLean and all of The Trak Shak, and a special thanks to The Darkside Running Club from Atlanta (of which I am a member) for handling the bulk of the Pace Team duties. As Director of that team, I may have grown over confident with their ability to deliver their Pace Group year after year right on time. Great job guys. As for me, I finished marathon/ultra #130 in good shape. Was on target through 18 as a Pacer for the 5 hour pace group, but dropped back with one of my best buddies having a very unexpected cramping problem and we came in laughing and joking before the sun came down in 5:19. Now, this was his 74th marathon, so it just goes to show you once more that you never know what will happen on THE DAY. When a race wants to bite your butt, it'll bite your butt!!

Well, everybody's about to wake up from their nap, so I guess I better get the engine started for the afternoon session of DiMicco Crossfit. I hope to get out tomorrow on the Boston Marathon course. Every time I come up here, I have to remind it who's boss!! It has it's version...I have mine!!!

I'll see you next week back on the Birmingham roads - AL

"One child lost is too many...one child saved can change the world"