One of the things I love about having so many children is the number of relational dynamics that exist. In fact, most of these exist without my even knowing about them.

Read Emma's blog about one sweet relationship inside our family.

The Kitchen Chair

The Twins are sitting on the chair next to my side of the bed. Oh, yes, the chair. There's a chair there instead of a bookshelf because the bookshelf is temporarily downstairs. The bookshelf is typically bulging with an assortment of books, each with a bookmark sticking out of the pages, rarely closer to the end than the beginning. The bookshelf got relegated to the basement when Lizzie and Sadie came.

We thought it best that the two girls begin their new life in America in our bedroom. Our bedroom size has its limits, so out went my bookshelf and out went the drying rack upon which all my running things get piled. But I still needed something upon which to place a few, at first two and I now count six plus a few running magazines, books. So, a kitchen chair seemed like a good idea.

This chair is actually quite famous. We purchased it from an antique store in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It served as a kitchen chair for our family and the dorm girls living in our home for nearly five years before we brought it with us to Minnesota. Here, it was used as a computer desk chair, a home school chair, a chair for when guests would come over, and occasionally a chair at the kitchen table. Somewhere along the way, in 2006, it became the chair upon which I set my running clothes and packs to dry. It's not a big chair, so it was often overflowing with gators, a Camelbak pack, wool socks, wool shirts, shorts, speedos, a drying water bladder, baggies filled with salt tablets and cubes. If I used it while running, it ended up on the chair.

So why is the chair famous? In 2007, after perusing some of my magazines and living through my early morning jaunts with Pete, Marty wrote a funny little article about my stepping into ultrarunning. It was so funny that people encouraged her to send it to some papers. One of our now good friends, who at the time was a reporter, showed up and wrote an article about the family and the running. Marty then sent her funny little article in to Ultrarunning Magazine. Tia Bodington liked it and "it used to be a kitchen chair" appeared on page 9 of the November 2007 edition.

That same kitchen chair, with many a recent wine stain, now serves as my temporary, make-shift night stand. As such, the Twins are on it, waiting to be read. The Twins are "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and "Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All Night Runner" by Dean Karnazes.

Dean's book got me into ultrarunning by helping me understand that 1) walking is just fine while running, 2) the body can do much more than we think it can and 3) running longer can make life greater and actually be better for the family than the marathon distance. I reread this book every spring.

Christopher's book has challenged me to consider barefoot running and to not see running as a separate compartment of my life. Plus, this book is so well written and so immensely informative and provocative as he delves into the life of the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico that at times I wondered if the book was really about running.

So there they sit, the Twins. It's time that I reread them both.

Incredible Blue Grass Concert

sTonight, as part of the Lake Country Fiddle Pal Camp week, there was a concert in Marine on St. Croix. It featured all of the instructors from the camp and then the members of Ten Penny Nail.

Now, I've taken the kids to some incredible concerts: for rock, U2 in Soldier's Field and for bluegrass, Chris Thile, formerly of Nickel Creek and now with Punch Brothers. Nickel Creek is sweet bluegrass music, dominated by the almost supernatural talent of Chris Thile. And Punch Brothers are completely and to a band member, almost faultless in their uncanny abilities.

But this concert tonight was even better. Punch Brothers' music and themes are so dark. And each member can sound similar, except for Chris. But tonight... it was happy, dancing, clapping, hooting, and sheer pleasantries. Each musician brought their own style and emphasis. So, here are some videos:

First, one of the favorites of the evening:
Ten Penny Nail, performing "After the Rain"




April Verch


April Verch singing about a flower. Don;t know name of song.


David Keenan


Rona Wilkie, singing a Gaelic song about a girl drowning. Yeah. But it was great.


One last clip:

INVICTUS

I rented Invictus this evening. Most likely it will take about 4 nights to get through it.
However, I started it, watched about 10 minutes of it, and already my heart is in my throat. I have a strong feeling that I will be tearing much throughout this movie.

I'm reading "The Power of One" right now. It is about South Africa around the time of WWII. It is very descriptive in its portrayal of apartheid in the tiniest matters of life.

I didn't think Marty wanted to watch, but I will happily be starting it over later this evening to begin it with her.

It's Officially "no"

At the beginning of the year, I had said that since we were pursuing adoption, this would not be the year to fill a racing calendar. I haven't. There are aspects of my well-being that feel this deeply.
But it's been a good decision. It's a good year to scale back.

Nevertheless, this week I've been thinking about Leadville. See, over the past 3-4 months, I've nailed down my mistakes and determined how to re-pass Hope Pass.

Last night I brought up the subject.

I have a great wife. We sat by the pool after she had had an exhausting day directing a great first-day of fiddle camp. In her lap was Sadie drinking her bottle. In the pool were four screaming and wrestling boys - two not our own. Two toddlers frittered about on the deck, always on the verge of falling into the sea-of-drowning-death, and two older girls coming in and out of the conversation with various IMPORTANT questions.

In spite of all that confusion and kid-fusion, and with the prospect of me spending a week in the mountains by myself, she didn't freak out. She simply reminded me that this would probably not be the best year because it costs so much money to make that race happen.

She is right. And her response was what I needed to be smart.
That has been happening in many areas of my life right now. I am very appreciative.

Marty did suggest that I could look for a closer 100 miler.

So, I'm considering the race that I vowed I would never attempt. Yes, you guessed: Sawtooth 100. From what I have heard, and compared to my experiences at Leadville, Sawtooth is more difficult.

So, Steve G, Bill and others, I need to start getting your advice?

Emma: The First Born

Thus begins a series of blogs about the kids.

Emma is 16. She is about to get her license but we need to practice the parallel parking, and entrance onto the highways a little more. And she just needs to drive more. She and I have spent many hours driving; though she would say that we have not spent enough. She is correct. We have been using Drivers Ed in Box which is very good; but I got sick of it. Emma dutifully figured all its nuances out, then took me through it, then patiently fretted when I got tired of its repetitive exercises.

Emma and Sadie

Emma, me and Levi splitting wood at the cabin on the North Shore

Emma and Zeke

A gift not so well received!

Zeke, Grace, Eli, Lizzie, Emma and Zeke (Sadie not pictured)

Emma and Lizzie

Sadie, Jeanna and Emma
one of Emma's best friends
read Emma's blog about her

Emma will be in 11th grade next year. I used to tease her often that I wanted her to enter college when she turned 16. Emma lines up all her school work and dutifully does it in order and far ahead of time. I finished my high school senior paper at 6am the morning it was due. I started the paper at 10pm the night before. I completed my college junior thesis during my senior year, and my senior thesis in the sixth year. Emma has most of her papers done weeks before they are due.

And she's bright. Since Christmas, we have been trying to meet once a week to discuss our readings in a book. Our goals is to make it through 4 theological books by the end of this summer. If we don't, it will be because dad can;t keep up. Our first book was Duties of Parents, by J.C. Ryle. This delightful 19th C primer on parenting is quick but chock full of good stuff which Marty and I strive to implement. I want Emma to have a strong vision for what parenting is about. The book that we are working through right now is The Sovereignty of God, By A.W. Pink. It is more substantial, but lucidly written. Emma has been wrestling with an Armenian and this book has been a great read. Often, Armenians have simple analogies that leave the Calvinist stumped, because analogies and little stories are not the way to develop a theology. It has left Emma quite frustrated. I've forgotten what our next book will be, but it doesn't matter. I'm far behind Emma in Pink's book, and we're about 3 weeks behind in meeting - all my fault.

Emma is also great at math. Some concepts don;t come easy, but Emma is a hard worker and she sticks with a problem until she understands it. We've spent several nights trying to navigate our way through an Alg II or geometry problem.

Enough for tonight. I'll continue with Emma again and talk about her ability to engage with all of her siblings, an incredible skill that will help her throughout all situations in life.

A good running thought.

I have learned many lessons from running "long" these past 4 years. One of these lessons finally got described last night. It's a thought that Pete and others have taught me, but naming it has eluded me until now:

Any run that is good is a great run. Run in such a way that all your runs are good.

It came out as ..."and all runs should be good" but I've never liked the word "should" since attending Cono Presbyterian, and "are" still infers that I should run in a manner so that the run is good.