Brookings Marathon 2005

The Brookings Marathon was yesterday, and as I have for four years, I ran the last leg, from mile 20, on a relay team. Like last year, the weather was poor, with a strong, cold wind coming out of the northwest.

The featured speaker on Friday night was Billy Mills, Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge SD, the only American ever to win the 10,000 meters at the Olympics. He won at Tokyo in 1964 as an unknown in a huge upset over the world record holder Ron Clarke. The come-from-behind finish in the last few meters was very exciting. That was my first summer on the planet, so I obviously don't have any memories of it, but I've read about it quite a bit, have seen the race on video, saw the movie about his life, and have seen that great photo of the finish countless times. It was a real thrill to hear him speak. I was able to speak very briefly with him on Friday night. Just before the start on Saturday, I looked up and there he was walking towards me. I was a little startled, and just said "Good morning, Mr. Mills," and shook his hand. I wish I had told him how much I enjoyed his speech.

As I said, the race conditions were poor, and the cold wind was just about exactly wrong for my part of the route. My leg was about 10 km, the same distance Billy Mills ran in 1964. I was about three-quarters through, and the wind was wearing me down. I had given up hope of meeting my time goal. As I was about to turn a corner to face that wind again, there on the side of the road in a small crowd of people was Billy Mills, cheering on the runners.

If that couldn't motivate me to a strong finish for my 10,000 meters, I don't know what would. I felt like I was floating for the next kilometer or so, and ran the last quarter of my leg with a big smile on my face.

Jambo Blogs

My old pal James is now a regular blogger on Three Way News. He posts as "Jambo." Those who know James will not be surprised to find that it features lots of shots at Republicans in general, Senator Norm Coleman in particular, creationists, and just about anybody else who would never have voted for Paul Wellstone or Howard Dean.

It's a good read, and it's not all about politics. Check it out. Extra credit for finding a typo in one of his posts, and the cheap shot I took at him in the comments.

Touché

Johanna and Thomas were getting a little riotous in our hotel room on Friday evening, and I asked them to quiet down a little, and speak in their normal voices. Johanna rejoined "What do you know about normal?"

Brookings Marathon

I'm on a relay team in the Brookings Marathon again this year, on 14 May 2005. It's a fundraiser for Easter Seals South Dakota. If you would like to sponsor our team, click on the "Donate" button on the right side of the page. Your donation will be matched by the Larson Foundation. Last year, the marathon raised $8,000.

The program this year includes a speech by Billy Mills, the only American ever to win Olympic gold at 10,000 meters. Last year's speaker was Dick Beardsley.

Here are some photos from last year.

Dad
Dad, Mary, and Mary's brother
Vern and Mary's brother (I really should ask Mary for his name. I think it's Don...)
Becky
Keith

Of all of the wacky neighbors in all of the sitcoms in all of television...

This morning as I ironed my shirt, I thought, as I always do, of Howard Borden, alone in his apartment, ironing and singing "As Time Goes By" in an episode of The Bob Newhart Show. If there were a Wacky Neighbor Hall of Fame, surely Bill Daily would be elected in his first year of eligibility. Everything about him was funny on that show -- the way he talked, the way he walked, the odd little hand movements -- everything. He wasn't bad on I Dream Of Jeannie, either, even with all of those lousy scripts.

Making snowmen at Grandpa & Grandma's house

Click photo for more.

Visions of Johanna

The Dave Brubeck Quartet's "Time Out" has been in my car's CD player for so long that Thomas calls "Blue Rondo a la Turk" his favorite song. Finally, one of our kids or one of their cousins wanted to hear something else. I happened to have Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" handy, so I popped that in. Thinking they might be amused by hearing Johanna's name in a song, I played "Visions of Johanna." Amused they were, especially Johanna herself. "'Johanna is not here!'" she said, laughing. "That's silly!"

Now, Tami may tell you a different story, but Johanna is named after that song. Before she was born, we had endless conversations about names. As we didn't know if we were having a girl or boy, these discussions were doubly long, and most of them went like this:

Tami: How about x?

Joseph: I don't like it.

Tami: Why?

Joseph: I don't know why, I just don't like it.

Tami: OK, how about y?

Joseph: I don't like it.

And so on.

But one day, she said "How about Johanna?"

My mind raced. I said to myself "We can name our daughter after a Bob Dylan song! Poker face! Poker face!"

Not just any Bob Dylan song, either. This one has it all. In 1966 Dylan was at the absolute height of his powers as a songwriter, singer, and bandleader. "Visions of Johanna" is about 7 1/2 minutes of opaque lyrics, backed by a killer band with all of that mid-1960s Dylan tasty goodness: Al Kooper's organ, Dylan's harmonica, etc. And the singing is fantastic, with seemingly bizarre choices working like magic. As usual, he follows the melody only when it suits him, and for some reason, he appears to sing the first couple of lines of each verse jumping up and down an octave. Why? I don't know, but it works.

So I suspect I didn't really manage a poker face as I replied "Uh... yeah, that's OK. I kinda like it. I guess. Yes. Good name. Put that on the short list."

We eventually settled on the name Johanna. After she was born, my friend Pat let the cat out of the bag. His emailed response to the birth announcement quoted the line "Jewels and binoculars" in the subject line. By that time, it was too late for Tami to back out. I had my living, breathing, beautiful Bob Dylan reference.

One day I'll tell you about Frank Sinatra's second wife, Ava Gardner...