I just made it onto the 7:57PM train out of Grand Central. This was an express train which means that it looks a lot like the picture here except that not a lot of folks wear hats like this anymore. If you look toward the back, however, you’ll see the vestibule area where latecomers like me are relegated to stand for the short forty-minute ride to the first stop in Southern Westchester.

I didn’t notice it at first, leaning against one of the glass walls that separate us from those who actually had seats. I was doing my normal thing now of flipping through my Blackberry catching up on e-mails. I just saw a young guy in khakis, a button-down long-sleeved white shirt with light blue checks and holding his greenish tweed jacket in between his knees as he read a copy of The Economist. I looked over and saw he was reading an article on corporate bankruptcy and he seemed deeply engaged in what he was reading.

Then it happened. He reached down, bent forward slightly and tugged at his crotch, adjusting what was obviously an anatomical protrusion that he was having difficulty dealing with. Now this gesture wasn’t subtle or coy or hidden. He was down there for a good five seconds which is an eternity. Think about it, one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, four one thousand, five one thousand. Now release your hand. As far as I’m concerned, after five seconds you either deserve an engagement ring or need to leave money on the end table.

I was stunned. I looked around and was more surprised that with all of these people standing around us, I seemed to be the only one who noticed. He read on.

Finishing that article, he shifted both the page and his body position. “Give me your Scientists”, reach down, tug and adjust. “Physiognomy and Money Lending” tug and adjust, “Resisting the Immigration of Highly Skilled Workers” Tug and Adjust.

The more he read, the more excited he seemed to become and the more he felt the need to reach down and fix his situation.  I looked around to see if there were any unbelievable attractive women behind me, nope, just a guy wearing a leather jacket and a Ducati backpack, another woman wearing Puma shoes, a skirt over her blue jeans and a black jacket, and yet another guy about six foot eight with a Mr. Robinson sweater and a black down coat. Let’s face it, New York commuters are not exactly the best looking folks around. Hey, I’m one of them so I should know. It didn’t matter anyway, because he never looked up, never, not once.

I looked over the magazine again, to see if he had somehow hidden some porn magazine inside to be discreet. Nope. He kept reading. “The Bees are back In Town”, Tug. Adjust. “Bearing it All, The Fall of Bear Stearns.” Tug. Adjust.

OK, maybe these provocative titles were somehow stimulating to him, after all, they did include phrases about bearing it all and bees, although I read the Economist and I can tell you that it doesn’t have quite the same effect on me. “Just Click to Park”. Tug. Adjust.

Even his constant gum chewing made his actions seem that much more casual and almost normal. Tug. Adjust. Switch his magazine from his right hand to his left. Tug. Adjust. I looked around again and still nobody seemed to notice, not one person. I felt like I’d entered the Twilight Zone, except that instead of a man on the wing of the plane, I was across from an intellectually curious pervert that was only visible to me. “Hillary Clinton In The Middle East: All Charm and Smiles.” Tug. Adjust.

OK, maybe that one I get.

This is what happens when we are working as hard as we can in an environment of economic uncertainty. Clearly making oneself as relevant and valuable as possible is just plain smart career management in times like these. Peter Drucker would be proud; focus on core value drivers, positively impact them and work as effectively as possible to drive measurable results. What that leaves out is time to write, outside of all of the writing I’m doing around developing a Consulting Mindset and Business Transformation capabilities for our firm.

The measurable effect to this is that I haven’t been posting to my blog as frequently as I would like. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’ve been doing some writing; I have a dozen half-baked diatribes cluttering my draft folder but they haven’t risen to the level necessary to be published where anyone would be able to cogently follow my random thought process.

That’s why I’ve been thrilled that I can point readers to especially cool and interesting articles published recently by others that have inspired me or at a minimum have given me pause to think about things in a slightly different way.

Today’s article comes from my very own cousin Stacie Krajchir, a regular contributer to The Huffington Post who brought to life what I have been suggesting for the past few months. No matter how bad things are for you, there’s someone out there who is in worse shape, and you can make a difference for them and for you. Aside from helping them just because its the right thing to do, it really can help to put you in a positive frame of mind and open up opportunities that you otherwise may have missed.

Therefore without further unnecessary ceremony, I encourage you to give a read to “Giving Back While Broke: How Playing A Little Bill-Paying Roulette Led Me To Bring The Power Of Pictures To Children In Mexico“, by Stacie Krajchir.

Rarely, if ever, do I republish an article in its entirety but I felt if all I did was include a link, that readers would gloss over it without giving it much attention. So to this end, I strongly encourage you to go to the actual link to read this, but for those who are really lazy, or perhaps for those who may be suffering from what this article addresses, I’ve included it below.

!2 Winter Depression Busters is especially relevant this season with so many people now out of work, or who feel like they are holding onto their current employment by a thin string. Daily, I receive the dreaded e-mail from a colleague entitled “It is with bittersweet emotions that I am leaving [insert current employer's name here].” That is code for, I just got fired.

Add to this, the typical seasonal challenges that go along with living in cold, dark and wintry climates and it’s a recipe for disaster. It’s also an opportunity for all of us to reach out to those who we know that might be going through a challenging time, and to throw them some semblance of a lifeline.

Read through this very thoughtful article and do what’s necessary to take care of yourself. At the same time, think about a friend or family member who may also be feeling a little down this season and reach out. Send them this article, take them out to a movie or just call them up and ask them, “How can I help?”

We’ve officially entered the hard months, the “dark ages” as the midshipmen at the Naval Academy say: the time of the year when the sun disappears and the pale complexions of your friends remind you that you had better take your vitamins or else you’ll have a cold to go with your pasty look.

I dread winter each year because many of my depression busters require sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s. What does a girl who kayaks and bikes for sanity do in the winter? Lots of things. Here are a few of them:

1. Watch the sugar.

I think our body gets the cue just before Thanksgiving that it will be hibernating for a few months, so it needs to ingest everything edible in sight. And I’m convinced the snow somehow communicates to the human brain the need to consume every kind of chocolate available in the house.

Depressives and addicts need to be especially careful with sweets because the addiction to sugar and white-flour products is very real and physiological, affecting the same biochemical systems in your body as other drugs like heroin. According to Kathleen DesMaisons, author of “Potatoes Not Prozac”: Your relationship to sweet things is operating on a cellular level. It is more powerful than you have realized….What you eat can have a huge effect on how you feel.”

2. Stock up on Omega-3’s.

During the winter I’m religious about stocking in my medicine cabinet a Noah’s Ark supply of Omega-3 capsules because leading physicians at Harvard Medical School confirmed the positive effects of this natural, anti-inflammatory molecule on emotional health. I treat my brain like royalty–hoping that it will be kind to me in return–so I fork over about $30 a month for the Mac Daddy of the Omega-3s, capsules that contain 70 percent EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid). One 500mg softgel capsule meets the doctor-formulated 7:1 EPA to DHA ratio, needed to elevate and stabilize mood.

3. Give back.

Gandhi once wrote that “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Positive psychologists like University of Pennsylvania’s Martin Seligman and Dan Baker, Ph.D., director of the Life Enhancement Program at Canyon Ranch, believe that a sense of purpose–committing oneself to a noble mission–and acts of altruism are strong antidotes to depression.

4. Join the gym.

Don’t let the cold weather be an excuse not to sweat. We have centers today called “gyms” where people exercise inside! Granted, it’s not the same–watching the news or listening to the soundtrack from “Rocky” as you run in place as opposed to jogging along wooded paths with a view of the bay. But you accomplish the goal: a heart rate over 140 beats a minute.

5. Use a light lamp.

Bright-light therapy–involving sitting in front of a fluorescent light box that delivers an intensity of 10,000 lux–can be as effect as antidepressant medication for mild and moderate depression and can yield substantial relief for Seasonal Affective Disorder.
I usually turn on my mammoth HappyLite in November, just after my least favorite day of the year: when Daylight Saving Time ends and we “fall back” an hour, which means that I have about an hour of sunlight to enjoy after I pick up the kids from school.

6. Wear bright colors.

I have no research supporting this theory, but I’m quite convinced there is a link between feeling optimistic and sporting bright colors. It’s in line with “faking it ’til you make it,” desperate attempts to trick your brain into thinking that it’s sunny and beautiful outside–time to celebrate Spring!–even though it’s a blizzard with sleet causing some major traffic jams.

Personally, I tend to wear black everyday in the winter. It’s supposed to make you look thinner. But the result is that I appear as if and feel like I’m going to a funeral every afternoon between the months of November and March. This isn’t good. Not for a person hardwired to stress and worry and get depressed when it’s cold. So I make a conscious effort to wear bright green, purple, blue, and pink, and sometimes–if I’m in a rush–all of them together!

7. Force yourself outside.

I realize that the last thing you want to do when it’s 20 degrees outside and the roads are slushy is to head outside for a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood. It’s much more fun to cuddle up with a good novel or make chocolate chip cookies and enjoy them with a hot cup of joe.

On many winter days–especially in late January and early February when my brain is done with the darkness–I have to literally force myself outside, however brief. Because even on cloudy and overcast days, your mood can benefit from exposure to sunlight. Midday light, especially, provides Vitamin D to help boost your limbic system, the emotional center of the brain. And there is something so healing about connecting with nature, even if it’s covered in snow.

8. Hang out with friends.

This seems like an obvious depression buster. Of course you get together with your buddies when your mood starts to go south. But that’s exactly when many of us tend to isolate. I believe that it takes a village to keep a person sane and happy. That’s why we need so many support groups today. People need to be validated and encouraged and inspired by persons on the same journey. And with all the technology today, folks don’t even have to throw on their slippers to get to a support group. Online communities provide a village of friendship right at your computer.

9. Head south.

Granted, this solution isn’t free, especially if you live in Maine. But you need not travel like the Kennedys to transplant your body and mind to a sunny spot for a few days. I try to schedule our yearly vacation the last week of January or the first week of February so that it breaks up the winter and so that I have something to look forward to in those depressing weeks following the holidays.

10. Take up a project.

There’s no time like winter to start a home project, like decluttering the house or purging all the old clothes in your kids’ closets. When a friend of mine was going through a tough time, she painted her entire house–every room downstairs with two different colors. And it looked professional! Not only did it help distract her from her problems, but it provided her with a sense of accomplishment that she desperately needed those months, something to feel good about as she saw other things crumble around her. Projects like organizing bookshelves, shredding old tax returns, and cleaning out the garage are perfect activities for the dreary months of the year.

11. Challenge yourself.

My mood can often be lifted by meeting a new challenge–an activity that is formidable enough to keep my attention, but easy enough to do when my brain is muddied. Learning how to record and edit video blogs, for this girl who hates technology, turned out to be great fun. Friends of mine get the same boost by joining Jenny Craig and losing the 25 pounds of baby fat, or exploring a new hobby–like scrapbooking. I try to stretch myself in a small way every winter–whether it be taking a writing class, researching the genetics of mood disorders, or trying to build myself a website. It keeps my brain from freezing, like the rest of my body.

12. Light a candle.

If I counted up all the minutes I’ve spent staring into a flame, I wonder how many years of my life that would be. Certainly more than the hours I’ve spent brushing my teeth or combing my hair. It would probably even surpass the combination of bath and shower time. But I just feel better if I stick my face in a hot glowing body of flame.

Therese J. Borchard writes the daily Beliefnet.com blog Beyond Blue (voted by Psych Central as one of the Top 10 Depression Blogs) and moderates Group Beyond Blue, the Beliefnet Community online support group for depression. Her memoir “Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes” will be released in May of 2009. Subscribe to Beyond Blue here or visit her at www.ThereseBorchard.com. This article was originally published on Beyond Blue at Beliefnet.com.

I spent the holidays in Ohio and upon returning found myself going through the e-mails I had missed. I’m not even sure where to begin but if this is any indication of what 2009 is going to be like, it should be a pretty lucrative year! Hmmm, where should I start? Ireland? The Marathon? The lottery?

Whoooohooooo!

I received this e-mail today from my good friend Barry who lives in the most perfect location in Los Angeles for running, the corner of 4th and San Vicente in Santa Monica. He’s a block away from the legendary Santa Monica stairs (although I’ve never been able to get him to use them for training), and 4 blocks away from Ocean Ave and the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean with the Santa Monica pier to his left and Malibu to his right.

It’s where I grew up running and aside from the Bay and Coastal trail routes in San Francisco, there’s no place better.

Hi Adam,

I hope you and Cindy had a nice trip to Ohio; I was in Denver Thursday and Friday, got to see a little bit of snow. I’m following the Hal Higdon Intermediate I training routine for my February 1^st Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach. So far, “knock on wood” I have been able to do the Saturday/Sunday back to back runs that have always eluded me in the past; and so far it’s been smooth and fairly easy. I’m trying oh so hard not to hurt my left hamstring again, so far, so good!

This morning I ran down San Vicente to Ocean; to the Pier, down the ramp to the bike path, north up to Topanga State beach, back past the pier again by about ¾ mile, and back up the ramp, and up Ocean to Georgia and 4^th. Exactly 17 J Next week they have the schedule with the same 8 mile Saturday run, and then 18 on Sunday. In two weeks he lowers the distance to 13, and I would like to find a half marathon somewhere to run, that would be fun to be in a real race.

Talk to you soon.

Barry

Barry has forgotten more about running than most runners will ever learn. Now ordinarily that phrase is used to compliment how knowledgeable a person is, but in Barry’s case, it’s a testament to how little he actually remembers. You’d think after 25 years of hanging around me, he’d be a walking endurance thesaurus, spouting off lactate threshold, gastric emptying and functional steady state as part of his everyday vernacular. Instead, he’ll frequently e-mail or call me and say things like, hey, I just met Bill Rogers who says if I do speed intervals once a week, I’ll get faster, to which I usually roll my eyes, because we’ve obviously had this discussion multiple times. While Barry is older in years than me, I’ve become the running dad to which it is almost understood he will immediately tune out. Even when I was coaching a thousand runner each weekend in Los Angeles, to Barry, I was just plain old Adam, the guy who would call him up to go for a run around UCLA or a quick bite of dinner at Kay & Daves in Pacific Palisades.

That’s why I particularly love that he is finally embracing back to back running days on the weekend during his training. And although I’m not sure he’s embraced the purpose for each of these runs yet, just the mere fact that he is running back to back like this is incredibly encouraging as we know it will yield tremendous results come marathon day when he allows himself a full taper.

If you run into Barry on the streets or along the bike path in Santa Monica give him a wave, will ya? He’s probably wearing  a visor, those original v-split short running shorts and a blue Nike technical t-shirt, but you won’t need those to know who he is. He’ll be the guy explaining all of the nuances of running or of the running location that he is currently in. There has never been a more big-hearted and good natured person who truly epitomizes the warmth of the running community. Since he is my oldest running friend and one of my best friends to boot, I’d consider it a personal favor if you gave him a wave and a smile as you run by.

The two most important things I can do as a consultant are to listen and to ask questions. As I do in other facets of my life, I try to take a Zen approach to my consulting. What that means is that I acknowledge that the clients with whom I work know their business far better than I ever will and my primary purpose is helping them to surface solutions that they in most cases already know but for a variety of reasons have either not accepted or have buried beneath layers of bureaucracy, political power struggles or corporate noise – the naysayers, and the “it’s always been done this way” mantra that is so pervasive in corporate America today.

Never was this made more apparent than during the conversations that I had this Thanksgiving weekend in the heartland of the automotive crisis with family and friends who have worked for GM directly (some for more than thirty years), third party suppliers and even a local steel mill where the hinges are made for their car and truck doors.

I love going back there because it provides a healthy dose of reality and diversity from the Los Angeles and Manhattan experience that has become my daily life. It’s always eye opening when you speak to intelligent people who live and breathe what I only read about or see through the lens of the national media. Now, I did grow up in a union friendly town, but the Screen Actors Guild, the DGA and the WGA never really seemed like real unions to me, you know the kinds with supposed mafia ties and bent nosed organizers. I mean seriously, my classmate Melissa Gilbert was the president of SAG, and I hardly can see little Laura Ingalls in the same light as Jimmy Hoffa. In truth I actually was a union member myself at one point when I worked at a local grocery store during college. Again, I didn’t have a full appreciation for the impact of that union; all I remember is that they called taxes dues and the triple time I got for working on Christmas and New Years never seemed to offset the regular hits to my meager bi-weekly paycheck.

Ohio in contrast is the real deal. People bleed for the unions out there. These are down to earth, uncomplicated steel workers, auto workers, and food workers. You name it and there’s a union to support it out there. It took me a good many years to shed the stereotyped image that I had been brought up with of these types of union workers – entitled, inflexible, overpaid and lazy.

Given the current financial climate, I couldn’t have picked a better time to be held in the bosom of the UAW. The first thing I noticed was that these members aren’t at all like those stereotypes, they aren’t digging in their heels about what they’re entitled to and they do in fact have a terrific handle on the current realities of the automotive crisis. Two evenings spent with them provided me with more relevant and valuable insight than all of the recent Face the Nation and WSJ reports.

Again as a consultant, our clients want us to bring relevant experience across multiple dimensions and different circumstances facing their industry. The people whom I spoke with this weekend have all of that and more, as these folks have lived lives not exclusively based on the current climate or even the recent past. They saw Chrysler go into and out of bankruptcy and they saw how and why it was successful. They lived through the 1979 union concessions as well as the negotiations and deals with GM management where promises were made but never delivered. Now I’m not naïve enough to think that any of our current auto industry problems are because of a single constituency but I have to tell you that the issues they identified and the solutions they suggested made a whole lot of sense to me and I’ll add that nothing that they talked about included unilateral actions without a shared responsibility by all parties. They really do understand that they are all in this together, management, unions, shareholders, suppliers and car owners. Not once did I ever see them point fingers except to say that none of what they were saying seemed to be heard. This is where a consultant can come in real handy because often an out of town expert with the briefcase is able to communicate the same message in a slightly different way to have it more readily heard and acted upon. That said, what I’m suggesting is that if this group is representative of the quality of GM workers and stakeholders, you already have an army of intelligent and insightful consultants to choose from.

Change is an interesting animal in that most everyone agrees to it in concept, but history, biases, motives and a lack of trust can create incredible resistance to doing anything meaningful to improve performance. Denial and hubris can be incredibly powerful forces and extremely difficult to overcome. Such is the case with GM. Why else would you fly to Congress to ask them for financial support without a plan and on a corporate jet. Who was advising these folks? Having had experience positioning our own firm’s leadership for prior Congressional hearings facing our industry, I can tell you that there is nothing more offensive than the non verbal cues associated with denial and hubris. True change begins with the willingness to have an honest dialogue with those who matter most, your customers and your people. I wonder if GM will ever take this incredibly important step. If they did, I bet that they’d find that their own people have all of the answers they need to address the two paramount objectives for this industry, increasing consumer demand for their cars, and sustainable cost reduction.

As one worker told me so eloquently, “when your own people don’t want to buy your products, you really have a problem”.

Thanksgiving has become an emotional holiday for us. Some not so great things have happened over the past few years around this time of the year. Last year was by far the worst with the horrible experiences leading up to and resulting from the death of Wally. There hasn’t been a day this year that we haven’t thought about Wally, the suffering that he endured and the lessons of life we learned from him while he was alive. I’m back in Ohio typing this as we prepare for our own Thanksgiving with family and friends and of course the annual Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. Over the past few weeks, I realized that as I was taking inventory of our own life and making sure that we had shored up any issues related to the effects of this year’s financial crisis on our professional and personal life, that thousands of people and families will spend this Thanksgiving without jobs, without the lifestyle to which they’ve become accustomed, and in many cases without hope. In short, I began to engage in Thanksthinking.

Thanksthinking is an incredibly important step. It means that you’ve crossed over into the human condition, where empathy and concern for others exists. But Thanksthinking is where 99% of people stop and it is simply not enough. Thanksthinking doesn’t put food on people’s tables or keep people warm in the winter. Evolving from Thanksthinking to Thanksgiving can be fairly easy, unless you Thanksthink about it too long. To that end, here are a few simple things that you can do this week to help with this transition:

• Call your local YMCA or community center to volunteer this holiday and beyond. Include your children in this experience to reinforce the importance of Thanksgiving to them at an early age. Turning this into a family tradition would be a tremendous gift for all.
• Find out if there is a local family in need and support them this holiday in ways that they can’t. There is one family here who’s father has been living with Huntington’s disease. He is now out of work and with no means to financially support his family. They are out there. Ask your friends if they are close enough to facilitate a conversation or if you should contact them yourself, and then do it. Contrary to popular rhetoric, for some people things really don’t just work out for the best and your efforts can make a difference.
• Donate your clothes and toys – it’s a great excuse to clean out your closet to find items you have never worn, that you really don’t need, and can be the difference between life and death to those out there battling this winter.
• Call a friend who either has recently lost his/her job or is at risk of losing it. Don’t assume that they have hundreds of people calling them and recognize that the feeling of loss and helplessness is shared equally by those formerly in blue collar jobs and senior VP offices. Invite them to spend Thanksgiving with you or just to hang out. Invite them to run your local Turkey Trot. You’ll be amazed at how many people are searching for any sign of a lifeline right now and your simple gesture can help them to right their course. If you need help with how to have these types of conversations listen to the Career Crisis E-Mail episode of The Managers Tools podcast.

I’m not a fatalist, far from it, I always tend to see the best in people and situations but I am also a function of the human condition and of my experiences. And based on both of those, I am convinced that it is precisely when times are toughest on us that we must accept our obligation to help those who are most in need. By acting you’ll bridge the divide between thinking and giving and make a huge contribution to their life and yours.

On November 3rd 2006, JetPack “Tyler” Darby was preparing for the biggest moment of his life, and it wasn’t just about preparing to run his first marathon in a few hours. He was about to ask the woman that he loved, the one that he had been following, and dare I say coveting, for almost fourteen years, Kelley Ward, to marry him.  He did, she said “yes” and the rest is history. OK, it’s not nearly that simple. Kelley, or Special K as we know her, learned early on what marriage challenges with JetPack might be like as within the next 12 months they purchased a new home, and he looked for a new job all while training for Ironman Moo 2007.  As if, training for an Ironman wasn’t hard enough, JetPack and Special K did all of this with JetPack under the spotlight of the virtual blogworld paparazzi as a member of Team Race Athlete.

I had the pleasure of being a small part of this experience and in the process got to know JetPack and Special K even better, and quickly understood just how amazing and grounded these two people are.

We were so incredibly excited when Tyler and Kelley invited us to their wedding in Philadelphia this weekend. Cindy and I have been a couple for quite some time, long enough to see most of our friends get married, divorced and remarried, so we’ve seen it all and are pretty good at knowing when couples will work and when they won’t. Trust me, it’s not like they’re perfect as individuals, I mean Special K can’t drive for shit. Our mutual friend Emily can attest to experiencing the white knuckling, red-light running, wrong side of the street experiences we had with Special K at the wheel of our rental car in Madison during Ironman weekend. And Jetpack, well he wasn’t planning the Iron Nut for nothing. But together, these two are quite the force, like a tag team of positive energy and purpose. In the case of Kelley and Tyler, this is beyond a perfect match. They’ve already been through  more than most couples were ever intended to, so from our point of view, the hard part is already done. This wedding is, therefore, the beginning of all of the good times and promises that life is meant to provide.

But I digress…

I know that was a long-winded preamble so I’ll cut to the particulars of the Iron Wedding weekend. We arrived in Philadelphia on Thursday night and found that Tyler and Kelley had picked up the cost of one of the nights for our room and provided us with a lovely welcome basket. To continue their graciousness, Cindy and I were invited to the reception dinner, for a terrific meal and an opportunity to reunite with the Darby clan and meet new members of Kelley’s family.

The rehearsal dinner was absolutely perfect with a few toasts, a few roastings and a perfect blend of Tyler playing the strong host and Kelley graciously playing the perfect hostess.  In a particularly emotional moment, Tyler presented his dad with a beautiful watch inscribed with the words “Iron Father” on the back, representing the relationship they have and the strength that exists within this family which is gaining a new member.

Of course any seriousness went by the wayside with this crew, as after dinner the pre-celebration continued back at the hotel bar with stories of Tyler growing up, the arrival of drunken pilot friends and alcohol, and alcohol and alcohol. I mean seriously, Tyler picked the location of the rehearsal dinner across the street from this pet care establishment. What was he trying to suggest?

Friday morning began with me meeting Jetpack for what would be his last run as a single man, a 5.1-mile run along the Schuykill River and boat house row. The trials and blessing s of life came clearly into focus as we ran passed two homeless men debating the merits of the dollar menus at McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. We did the obligatory Rocky run up the stairs of the Art Museum steps and from the top we paused to stare at the Cathedral Basilica where JetPack and Kelley would say there vows just a few hours later. Our run continued along, what else, Kelly Drive. Along the way, we compared wedding planning to Ironman planning and Tyler was absolutely convinced that his Ironman was far easier by comaprison.

He did like the fact that the night before his main event, he didn’t have to eat dinner at 5PM and could carbo load with his favorite libation and it wasn’t CarboPro. As we made our way back to Tyler’s hotel and the end of our run, a serene calmness fell over him. He was ready.

RACE DAY

The Swim:

The choice of venue, the Cathedral Basilica, was out of this world. It was simply extraordinary. Looking up at the ceiling, we wondering how they possibly crafted this immense and intricate structure. The ceremony began with the priest pointing out that this was a historical wedding If only because the bride arrived thirty minutes early. Never in the history of the church has that happened.

Having lost her father, Kelley walked down the aisle alone, a very powerful and emotional statement that had everyone in the audience holding their breaths and causing Tyler to bubble up and cry like a baby, the priest was kind enough to point this out as well, in case anyone in attendance missed it. Kelley made a beautiful bride and the dress, enhanced by Mary, made for a true once in a lifetime experience and a look that was jaw dropping.

Below, Tyler pulled it together long enough to say his vows, exchange rings and officially begin his new life with his wife. Shortly thereafter, Mr. and Mrs. Jetpack walk back up the aisle with Kelley carrying the red rose that was placed on the railing during the ceremony in memory of her father.

T-1

Our first transition required only a short walk to the reception and no change in clothing.

The Bike:

With the formal part of the wedding complete, we all headed back to the Sofitel hotel for the reception, which was without a doubt worthy of “E” Entertainment television in terms of the thought that went into each aspect of the evening. Upon arriving, the foyer contained digital photo albums of the couple and as we walked into the main ballroom, we were provided with paper planes with 08.01.08 written onto them. As the newlyweds entered the ballroom, they were showered in these planes by their guests. This is definitely the first time that I’ve ever thrown a paper airplane at a wedding and didn’t get scolded or removed.

A great touch was that the tables and table cards were not numbered, rather they were labeled with dates and numbers of events from throughout their courtship. We sat at, what else, table 140.6, while others sat at tables recognized for their engagement date 11.03.2006, 13.1 signifying Kelley’s completion of the Philadelphia Distance Run and others referencing their individual birth dates.

Given that the bride went to Julliard, you can expect the dancing to be outrageous and the new couple kicked things off surprising everyone with a Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers routine that would have easily won them the competition at Dancing with the Stars. Yes, Tyler looked a little like George Hamilton in comparison to his lovely bride, but the man has moves and the effect was extraordinary, even more so when we later found out that only 25 percent of the dance was choreographed and the rest was made up on the fly.

Nothing was left to chance. The kids got their own Net Jets kids packages, there was a separate VIP lounge area, great food and amazing friends and family. Joe Wibner “Trifilmer” and his wife added to the experience by bringing with them special race bibs made for this event, which Tyler proudly wore. Even the cake got into the action with a topper of a bride and a groom sharing a ride on their bicycle. I’m not sure if it was a BMC because it required a magnifying glass to see all of the detail, but you can clearly see the deep dish aero wheels.

T2:

As you might expect, we took our time in our second transition as everyone including the bride and groom changed into clothes that more exemplified Kelley and Tyler’s clear urban street upbringing.

The Run

The evening continued until one o’clock on the rooftop of The Continental, a cool bar on 18th Street. As August 1st rolled over into August 2nd, Tyler leaned over to celebrate the completion of their first day of marriage, a very successful one at that.

For those that couldn’t be there in person, you missed a terrific event, but more importantly you were equally in the thoughts of the bride and groom and in those of the attendees. Many glasses were raised to those who the happy couple knew and invited but were unable to attend.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed being there.

Congratulations Kelley and Tyler on a lifetime of happy experiences and great race results.

If you’ve been living under a rock, there is this technology called Twitter, you can read more about it on Texafornia’s blog at www.zentriathlon.com. Now Twitterers are mostly self absorbed, self promoting, insecure, procrastinating, self indulgent or just plain self unaware. Hey I know this because I’m a Twitterer and I probably fall into many of these descriptions. We’re all Modern Jackasses, more on what that is in a future post.

So with my 43rd birthday coming up, I decided to see if Twitter had any real value aside from letting people know where I was on an Ironman Bike course so they could have adequate time to leave Charlie’s or Pizza on Main Street to come out for the 30 seconds to cheer me on as I pass by before making that massage appointment at the Mirror Lake Inn – yes Sherpaing can be done with style.

But I digress. On Saturday, I’ll turn 43 years old and against all good judgment decided to do this whole B-Fit, B-Day that Everyman Triathlete Roman Mica has dreamed up. Let’s face it, an ADD endurance coach like me isn’t going to want to stare at lane lines for 3 hours and I founded a program called Race with Purpose, so here I could kill off a few avian flu birds with one stone by participating in Swim Across America’s Long Island Swim. And given that I’ve only ever swam 2.4-miles before and had so much fun doing that, I figured I could complete Roman’s B-Fit, B-Crap B-Day Challenge and qualify myself to get a cool Rudy Project aero helmet so I can wear it backwards and look like a cone head while riding my Trek 1400 at 14mph.

In the process I can also raise a bunch of money for cancer research to honor my mom who got me into this whole endurance sports thing in the first place. Lastly, I could prove once and for all if Twitter has any use beyond making me feel like I have friends that could ultimately replace my stuffed Barney figure that I talk to all too regularly.

So for the past week, I’ve been acting like the program manager for the local public radio station tweeting all sorts of crap to basically encourage (annoy) people into donating $10. With 80 Twitterers following me (get a life), and most of them spending their non-Twittering time polishing their carbon bike frames, I figured $10 from each person would easily raise more than the $500 I’ve pledged. To make it even  more enticing, I’ve committed to matching the donations up to the $500 just to calm the critics out there who think I’m doing this as a way to get out of paying for the honor to swim with jellyfish in the Long Island Sound. Oh, I fell off of my white horse years ago, and don’t think the thought didn’t cross my mind, but in this case, I’m actually sincere and have the funds to back up my commitment.

So what do you need to do to participate? Go to Twitter and specifically go to my twitter page where you’ll find the link to donate. Trust me, it won’t be difficult to find. I can’t post it here or that would defeat the entire purpose of seeing if we can use Twitter for good as opposed for evil as Brett has proclaimed previously. I want Twitter to be Twitterlicious.

What do you get for this? Nothing, well not nothing, you get to add yourselves to the multitude of people who have already donated like @KonaShelley, @JenWillTri, @TriJD, @HolisticGuru, @hak42 (thanks Tanya), @jg_65, @billrisch and @bmatheny and @Rambonie who have all donated more than their requested $10.

You also get to see if I can get dropped off a boat in the LI Sound and can make it back alive under horrible conditions. Read what the Swim Across America has posted recently:

And since we already know I ain’t doing this in a pool, I’m wearing a full wetsuit and will put duct tape anywhere there is still exposed skin. Hey, the only other tape I had laying around is packing tape and I thought that might not be hypoallergenic. So go to Twitter and donate your $10.

Now switching gears, I have a few thoughts on Roman’s whole B-Sh1t B-Day thing.  Roman, who thought of this stupid thing of swimming 4 miles for 40, 5 miles for 50, 6 miles for 60, 7 miles for 70, 8 miles for 80, 9 miles for 90? Someone’s going to die and YOU’re going to be responsible because all they will gurgle as they’re being pulled out of the water is “I just wanted that Rudy Project aero helmet.” DEAD!

Everyman triathlon my ass! What everyman triathlon at age 88 is going to swim 8 miles, run 8 miles and then cycle 88-miles. Jack LaLane? Maybe you should have included that we need to hold a rope to a tugboat in our teeth to make it more reasonable.

Here are the details and the rules for the B-Dead, B-Myass, B-Day Challenge:

http://bfitbday.ning.com/

Take your age and in any order:

1) Swim the number of miles in the first number,
2) Run the number of miles in the second number,
3) Bike the number of miles in the combined number.

So a 45-year-old athlete would:
1) Swim 4 miles
2) Run 5 miles
3) Bike 45 miles

If you choose to accept the B-Fit B-Day Challenge you must….
Bronze: Do all three (swim/bike/run) during the week of your Birthday.
Silver: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in the three days before, after, or on your B-Day.
Gold: Do all three (swim/bike/run) in 24-hours to celebrate your B-Day!

Important Note: Since “0” Birthdays like 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and so on are important milestones the “0″ in your birthday represents a 10. This means that on those “0” Birthdays you get to celebrate this big milestone by running ten miles. Whoohooo!

Whatever, I’m a lemming so as I stated above, I’ll be doing the Long Island Sound Swim version.

According to the Swim Across America folks:

“The Long Island Sound Swim started in Larchmont, New York in 1992 at the Larchmont Yacht Club with a 4-mile swim. It was, and still is, dedicated to the memory of Mrs. Kathy Webers, who along with family and friends courageously battled cancer for over a year. Our first year we had 35 swimmers and raised $15,000. In 1994, the swim’s course ended at the Larchmont Shore CLub, where a brunch was held. Without a swim in 1996, the Long Island Swim Committee reformed and in addition to the 4-mile swim added the 1 mile swim. Now, we offer a 6 mile swim as well. We also added the Cancer Support Team and Children’s Hospital of New York- Presbyterian at Cornell Medical Center as additional beneficiaries.

Swimming requirement for 4 milers - 4-mile swimmers must be able to swim 1 mile in 30 minutes or less, as attested to by a Pool Director, Swim Coach or Life Guard.”

NOT!

I freak’n hate to swim and now I have to get a note from my local swimming pool that says I won’t drown on their watch doing this stupid thing, which is, oh by the way, the week after Ironman Lake Placid. Oh give me a break, I did the swim and a loop of the bike there. I just bet that there will be some lame-ass rule that says I can’t listen to music as well similar to the USAT or RRCA rules now. F-that. I’m going out to buy a SwiMP3 or something similar so I can listen to 4 hours of podcasts while I practice drowning myself in the Long Island Sound. What is the level of exposure to bacteria necessarily to contract Hepatitis? Will 3 hours be sufficient or do I need four? Where is lunch served in a four-hour open water swim? Let’s be honest, I’m supposed to swim 4 miles and then I have to run 3? Who thought up of this brilliant parody that is so heavily weighted towards the swimmers? I have an idea, let’s make the swimmers run 40 miles and then they can swim 3.

Roman, I am officially declaring theB-Fit Birthday, the B-F’d Up My Ass Birthday Challenge for the criminally insane. It is incredibly discriminatory. Let me get this straight, a 14 year old has to swim 1 mile, run 4 miles and then bike 14 miles, and a 88 year old man, presumably a bit more frail, has to swim 8 miles, run 8 miles and bike 88 miles? This has got to be some Arian way to kill off the lessor species or an I hate old people statement. And as an older Jew, I take this as a personal assault. Also as an older Jew, as I’m ranting, I know I’m going to do everything in my power to do this stupid thing. Go ahead; brand a number on my arm as soon as possible, I hate it when body markings come off.

Forget Rudy Project and Hornet Juice, you need to be sponsored by Aetna, or Blue Cross or what the hell am I thinking, you need to be sponsored by Mutual Life Insurance Company.

I expect you, Mr. Everyday Triathlete, to financially take care of my girlfriend, my detached selfish and anti-social dog, and my blind/deaf cat after they dredge my lifeless body from the sound. Please make sure someone escorts Cindy to Tyler’s and Kelley’s wedding next week.

But I digress…