Concerts, Parties, Training & Planning

What a whirlwind of a weekend. Older son, John finished his last day of high school on Thursday. Friday we went to see Coldplay in West Palm Beach, Saturday was a graduation party at our house, and I was supposed to get a long run in this weekend at some point. How did it all work out? Here goes.

Coldplay. I had turned son John onto Coldplay when I discovered them with the release of their second album. We've all been fans since. John suggested that tickets to the Coldplay concert would make a great graduation gift. I orginally bought him 2 lawn tickets, but decided to get him better tickets, figuring he could sell the 2 lawn tickets to friends. When he heard this, he suggested that we take the better seats and join him and his date, Becka at the concert. We were glad it worked out this way, because the show was amazing. Chris Martin and his bandmates put on a fabulous show. He sang songs from all of their albums with most of Viva la Vida played. The crowd couldn't help but chime in on many of the songs. The band came off the stage for twice to play on small stages in the crowd. The first time was about 15 rows in front of us, giving Salome & me amazing seats. The second time they played a small stage on the lawn, so John & Becka got a close up view also. The crowd stood, danced and sang the entire show. To top it all off, at the end of the show, Coldplay gave away a live CD with 9 songs from the first leg of the tour. Thus, the fun continued on the drive home from the concert as we listened to more live Coldplay. Sweet.

Saturday Graduation Party. The party was great. Lots of nice kids and music. John has friends that form several bands. They bands played great, but my wife & son decided to have the bands outdoors again. The last time we tried this, the cops came and forced us to move the band inside. The cops showed up at the house as did way too many kids. Let's just say the party reached a tipping point. The cops made us shut it down. I guess that makes it a memorable graduation party.

Fortunately for me, buddy John had agreed to join me in an evening 12 miler and was in attendance. Thus, when I had to act the bad guy and start forcing reluctant party goers to head towards the exit, I had help. Now, that's a friend. Someone who will not only train with you, but join you in doing the unpopular, but necessary act of shutting down a party gone out of bounds. Thanks John. I don't know if I could have gotten it done without you.

Training. The 12 mile run earlier in the evening was a strong one for John. He definitely pushed me to my capacity on the return 6 miles. Impressive, given he had done a 30 mile bike ride in the morning. He is setting the standard high. I've got my work cut out for me in catching up to his fitness level. Yes, that injury is history.

Planning. On the planning front, we are trying to figure out a Half IM to do sometime in the August to September range as a checkpoint for the late November IM. We are considering both the Steelhead Half in Michigan in early August and the Clermont Half in late September. Steelhead is supposed to be a popular race, but it would be a major travel event. It's also only a month from the Seattle Marathon. Clermont is more of a drivable local event, being located near Orlando. Both are under consideration, but I'm thinking it will be Clermont.