"Don't Look Back..."

"...someone might be gaining on you."

That's my paraphrase of one of Satchel Paige's "Rules for Staying Young." I thought about that quote a lot a couple of weeks ago as I did the Spanish Fork Half Marathon.

I wasn't even sure I would run a half marathon that weekend as I was trying to decide between doing the half or a 5k up until a day or two before the race. I ultimately picked the half marathon because I am signed up to run a marathon this coming weekend and I thought that doing a half marathon three weeks before the full marathon would be good practice. (I won't tell you which marathon, since I'm not being paid to endorse it on this blog. But let's just say I'll be in a certain town in Southern Utah this weekend....)

I jokingly told a friend before the race that I would start the Spanish Fork Half Marathon by sprinting at the start so that I might be in the lead for at least the first few moments of the race. Then, the morning of the race, reality set in and I realized it was better to finish the race than to pull a hammy in the first 100 yards!

I got off to a decent start, but I learned not to look back because a lot of people were gaining on me and then did pass me during the race. Fortunately the last half mile or so, I discovered a decent finishing kick and managed to pass a few people as I neared the finish...

I ended up surprising myself with a somewhat decent time and completely surprised myself by not having to walk at all the entire race. I felt like that was quite an accomplishment considering that less than a year ago, I was proud to be able to finish a 5k without walking. (Yes, I realize that that was pathetic, but I mean to make substantial improvement in this year's Dana Point Turkey Trot!)

(is this good running form as I near the finish line? I have no idea!! Frankly, I was just glad to be ambulatory at this point....)

Some of the things I loved about the race: friendly race volunteers, the smell of freshly mown alfalfa during the run, and beautiful views of Utah Valley's mountains!

Some of the things I didn't love about the race: getting passed by a guy wearing Mickey Mouse ears (yes, shamefully that is true), the fresh aroma of the local dairy farms (you know what I mean) during the run, and basically not having any aid stations between miles 2.5 and 7!

The truth is that I really have no idea about how to train for a marathon. I'm sure there are a lot of good books out there about how to prepare for a marathon, I just haven't read any. Nor will I. I had a friend that asked me what I had done for my "long run" to get ready for the S_. G_____ Marathon (I still refuse to name it unless I manage to get some race swag!). My reply: "What's a long run?"

My family has a long, proud tradition of doing marathons. We also have a long, proud tradition of not really training for them ahead of time. One member of my family (who will remain nameless) decided to do the Deseret News Marathon one year. He bought his shoes the night before. He did the race practically from a dead hang. He got beat up running down hill but he did it anyway. I thought it was so cool the way that he just went for it that that's probably the moment that I added "Run a Marathon" to my bucket list. (To be checked off on Saturday...)

Another family member was going to do the Deseret News 10k another year. The line to register for the 10k was too long, so she did the marathon instead. Family lore holds that she finished anyway. (At least that's how I choose to remember it.)

I have tried to train a little bit, but no way am I "prepared." I have way too much going on trying to be a good dad, husband, fulfill my church calling, provide for my family, etc. to even come close to putting in the mileage that I should be doing in preparation for this race. Training for a [not-to-be-named] marathon in Southern Utah is at least fifth on my priority list. And I like it that way.

I think that I probably should be more worried or nervous about this race than I am. I got an email tonight from the race organizers tonight warning us not to cross the finish line with our kids because as soon as we cross the finish line, we have to go to the "recovery tent." I have no idea what that is, but it sounds serious.

When I finished the Spanish Fork Half, I just walked over and collapsed on the grass until my sweet cousin Michelle came over to congratulate me. (She was the only one that came to watch me finish the race and took some of these great pics! Michelle, you're the best!)

At the end of the day, running this race will be a very personal thing for me. I've never run more than 13.1 miles (and that only on 3 occasions--all since April 2011). I probably had no business even entering, much less winning, the race lottery to even get into this [popular Southern Utah] marathon. I have probably trained less than 99% of the other runners. I will probably hurt by the end of the race.

BUT:

I set a goal and I intend to achieve it. I will have to push myself, but I look forward to the challenge. And I won't be looking back. There will be plenty of people gaining on me and passing me throughout the course of the race. I expect that and if I can, I will encourage them and wish them luck as they pass me.

But I will finish the race a stronger person than I was when I started. And I'll have one more item crossed off my bucket list. That's only going to make my next challenge that much easier.

Morning Fog

Fog drifts from the sea...

Density and mystery

Shroud the vale below.

The Good Doctor

Yesterday we went to a funeral. Kevin was a friend of mine and member of my ward. He was a young doctor who left behind a beautiful wife and four really great kids. He was 43. He left us much too soon.

Friday night, we went to set up chairs in the Stake Center for the funeral. I knew that there would be a lot of people there to help. There were. But I went anyway and I'm glad that I did. When you have friends that go through tragedy, you always want to say, "Please let me know what I can do to help." Most of the time, there is not much you can do. But I knew that Kevin and his family needed help setting up chairs. And that was something that I could do. I went to show Kevin how much I loved him, how much I appreciated his friendship, and how much I will miss him.

This is what the Stake Center looked like from the podium after we were done setting up chairs.

We put out every single chair in the entire building and then brought in dozens of more chairs from the other building in the stake (all the blue chairs). Every single one of these chairs was filled for Kevin's service. It was neat to see such an outpouring of love and support for Kevin and his family.

I told a friend of mine about Kevin and the funeral and my friend said, "Sounds like he was a really good guy." I thought about that for a second and then I realized that Kevin was not just a "good guy"--he was the "best" type of guy. Our world needs a lot more Kevins, especially these days.

In his remarks during the service, President Reese told how everyone thought that they were Kevin's best friend. It was true. Kevin was loved by everybody, but not because he sought out popularity. He was beloved because people sensed Kevin's innate goodness and kind and gentle nature and were drawn to that.

I'll share a personal experience to show what type of person Kevin was. Kevin was an E.R. doctor. One night while playing in an office basketball game, I had got hit in the head during the game and had a huge gash in my scalp. There was blood everywhere and I probably looked a little scary. It was about 10 p.m. at night and the last thing I wanted to go and do was spend a few hours cooling my heels in the emergency room at the hospital. I decided to swing by Kevin's house unannounced to see if he thought I really needed stitches or if I could wait until the morning.

Kevin invited me in and took a look. He had his daughter come in to play trauma nurse and he literally superglued my scalp back together right there in his kitchen. (Apparently they use superglue in the E.R. quite often.) It healed great. He seemed embarrassed when I tried to thank him for his help.

I'm sure Kevin probably wouldn't even remember that particular incident because he did so many kindnesses like that for so many people. But I will never forget.

The funeral service itself was sad because we will miss Kevin. But it was comforting as well, to be reminded of our Heavenly Father's plan and to know that one day we will renew our acquaintances and friendship with Kevin in the next life. It made me grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes that possible.

Kevin, thanks for showing me what it means to be self-less and to love your neighbor. You inspired me to be a better man. We love you and you will be missed.

(if you are interested to know more about Kevin and how inspirational he was, you can go to his blog here.)

On Butterfly Wings and Answered Prayers...

So E. had her second day of pre-school earlier this week. She has been a little hesitant to leave home and go to pre-school (and also to go to nursery during church) for some reason the past few weeks, so we were worried about how she would do. We were worried enough that we prayed that E. would able to be happy and make friends at pre-school.

I told J. to let me know how E.'s day at school went and, in response, I got an email from J. containing this short video clip below. E. has the cutest pre-school teacher and she was kind enough to send this to us so that we would know how E. was doing:

(Sorry if it is a bit distorted, the video was shot sideways, and I had to figure out how to flip it...)

I have never thought that butterfly wings could look as cute as they do on E. in this video...and I don't think I could possibly watch this video enough!

Looks to me like E. is doing better and we are really grateful that our prayers were answered and for great friends and neighbors like E.'s teacher, among others, who play a role in having them answered.

The Rules

I usually like to follow rules, but I broke one today. I'll get into that in a moment, but first some background:

I am a self-confessed "fashion idiot." I know almost nothing about fashion. In fact, my wife has threatened to submit my name to "What Not to Wear." Seriously...

A friend of mine recently did a blog post about fashion. Reading the post re-

confirmed to me how little I actually know about the topic. For example, I hope

I'm not the only one who had no idea what a "pencil skirt" was, but I probably am.

And yes, I actually did look it up.

Even though I know very little about fashion, I feel like I can appreciate good fashion. I just don't know what makes it good or why. But like Justice Potter Stewart, "I know it when I see it."

That's still not much help if I need to figure out what to wear (i.e. to church, work,

or in a social setting). Once I got married, I assumed that I could delegate

wardrobe selection duties to my wife. I also assumed that if she gave me a piece of

clothing to wear, I was golden (even if I didn't actually get around to wearing it for a while—like a year or two). I was wrong.

Apparently fashionable styles come and go. (who knew???) But for someone like me who doesn't understand the whims or vagaries of the fashion world, it can be bewildering...

Fortunately, my profession depends on rules. I understand them and, more

importantly, I am trained to memorize them and make them work for me. I know

that fashion has its own rules and I’ve managed to memorize some of the more important ones that would apply to me.

(That doesn’t mean I know all the rules. For example, I know that you are not supposed to wear white after Memorial Day (or something like that), but I think

that applies only to women. Hence no need for me to waste any of my time memorizing that one…)

Here are some of the fashion rules that I have tried to commit to memory:

#1 - Always wear a belt (unless wearing suspenders).

#2 - The color of your belt should match the color of your shoes.

#3 - Wrinkly dress shirts look terrible. Save yourself lots of time and headache by just buying a good quality non-iron dress shirt.

#4 - In casual or social situations, it’s generally not a good idea to tuck in your shirt..

#5 - Pants should not look like this (yes, I know these are women, but that still doesn’t make it look any better. Trust me, it looks worse on a man):

#6 - Wear socks or sandals—not both.
#7 - The color of your socks should match the color of your pants.

And that brings me back to my confession:

I admit it, I broke Rule #7 today. Yes, it’s true. I wore black socks with tan pants. I can’t remember whether I just forgot about Rule #7 temporarily or if I was too lazy to root around a bit deeper in my sock drawer for the right color socks to match my pants. But I’m guilty.

But here’s my question, is it really that bad? I feel like breaking Rule #7 is forgivable if the color the socks at least matches the color of the shoes. What do you think? Does anyone out there think that any of these rules need to be updated?

Let's hope so, I don't know if I'd be able to get over the embarrassment of being ambushed someday by Stacy London and Clinton Kelly!

Pink Tutus...

My cute wife J. has a birthday today. I wasn't sure that I wanted to reveal the exact day publicly, but given that it's all over her Facebook account, we're not exactly talking about a state secret here. Plus, I think I can trust all 5 of my "regular" readers (given that I'm the oldest of 10 siblings, that's not really saying all that much!) to not steal her identity!

I just wanted to take a second to rave about my wife--J.--as she celebrates 31 years on this Earth (again).* ;)

Here's just one (recent) example of why J. is so rave-worthy:

Our youngest is turning 3 soon. She dreams of pink tutus, she loves to read books about pink tutus, she's having a birthday party soon with pink tutus, and even her invitations to that party are pink tutus. Somehow, J. came up with the idea for the invitations (above) and managed to pull it all together.

As J. would say: "Can you even stand it?" Actually, I was way impressed. J. always comes up with these types of fun ideas, but this one may have been her best yet. I'm not a "crafty" person, but you don't have to be an expert on crafts to recognize how darling those invitations are and appreciate J.'s creative genius in putting them together. I can't wait to have a house full of little ballerinas in pink tutus running around for the party.

I'm constantly reminded of what a great mom J. is and I have no idea where she gets the energy to keep our house running so smoothly. J., I know I don't say it enough, but our kids are blessed to have you for their mom and I'm lucky to have you for my wife. I love you!

*Since J. didn't put her actual age on Facebook, I don't think I'm at liberty to disclose it here. I just guessed at 31, but I actually think she looks younger than that! :)

Dear Car Rental Company...

Dear Car Rental Company--

Recently I rented a car from your company. The car worked well and I had a jolly good time enjoying the freedom of the open roads. But that's not the reason for this note. I am writing to thank you so much for your nice letter that I received today informing me about my recent alleged toll road violation. (I say "alleged" because I've watched enough Law & Order episodes to know that generally an individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty--even for traffic tickets.)

I know that the fines for these types of toll road violations can be quite pricey and I thought it was very considerate of you to go to the trouble to contract with an outside company that would give us this type of courteous reminder. I also thought that it was very customer-serviced oriented of you to use your superior purchasing power and leverage in the marketplace to negotiate with the toll roads to reduce the fine to a mere $30. Sometimes the fines can be more than double that amount. And finally, I thought it was very patriotic of you to take on the responsibility of conveniently billing me to make sure that the fine owed to this quasi-governmental agency (i.e. the toll roads) was paid promptly.

Then I read the fine print in your letter and realized that the $30 was merely to cover the "administrative processing fee" for all of the above convenient services. Apparently I'm still on my own to pay the fine, because the small print clearly explained that "The issuing authority may contact you regarding the violation separately." Oops! My bad...You're right, they probably wouldn't be contacting me to send me belated birthday wishes.

Fortunately, I already made arrangements to have the toll paid directly, so I hope you aren't still going to bill me for an administrative processing fee/reminder that I never asked for and never needed.

I do applaud your entrepreneurial spirit though and efforts to provide a badly needed service for your loyal customers in these tough economic times. Best of luck to you in the future!

Sincerely,

Another Satisfied Customer

What A Difference A Decade Makes...

Ten years ago today (September 10, 2001), I started my legal career. I remember a little about my first day on the job, much more about my second. (Who doesn't remember where they were on that day?)

My new firm put Julie and me up in the Four Seasons in Philadephia for my first few days on the job. I left the hotel and went across the street that first morning to our orientation at the top of the Bell Atlantic Tower. I wasn't sure what was expected of me, except that I figured I would be asked to work hard. And I was ready for it (or at least I thought I was...).

Little did I know that forces were already in motion that would impact the way we live our lives.

Much has changed in the past 10 years. At the airport today, both my wife and I were singled out for enhanced security. I opted to stand with my hands above my head for some sort of body scan device so that I wasn't subjected to a full body patdown that I was warned would include "sensitive areas."

I also forgot to take the liquids out of my bag, so I had to watch while a "friendly" TSA agent took out my cough syrup, tooth paste, deodorant, and soiled laundry bag. (There's nothing like having your dirty laundry aired in public...)

On September 10, 2001, I could not have imagined that this would have seemed normal 10 years later. I don't know if it is good or bad that this is now routine. I'm not even sure if it makes me feel safer. But I do not know that things have changed.

On the legal front, in the past ten years, I have billed many thousands and thousands of hours (worked many, many more than that), represented hundreds of clients, and worked for four different law firms. I have helped a client who lost her husband win a jury award of millions of dollars, I have tried a case with my dad, I took my first deposition (and countless others after that), I have helped settle many disputes. I feel like my clients know that I care about them and their problems. I am grateful for the confidence my clients have placed in me and I always want to be worthy of that confidence.

I have worked hard and I am a better attorney than I was 10 years ago. Being an attorney is not an easy job. But being an attorney can be really fun (at times) and I have felt a sense of personal satisfaction at helping my clients resolve complicated issues.

I have a few gray hairs now--though I'm not actually sure if those hairs are from my cases or from my kids. (Probably both!) And I look at the picture of myself at the top of this post (my first professional picture as an attorney) and I think that I didn't really look old enough to be an attorney.

I don't really like change. But I know that it is essential both personally and professionally. 10 years from now, I expect to be a much better attorney than I am today. And I expect to be a better person, better husband, and better father as well. It will take continued hard work, but I am just as confident today as I was 10 years ago that that I can do it.

I guess that part remains the same.