Sickness & Health

Winter never truly showed up.  Here it is, the middle of March and we’ve barely seen any snow, and the usual low temperatures have been replaced by mild 50 to 60 degree temperatures.  I’m not complaining, merely making an observation.  I realized the warmth after yesterday’s six mile run . . . there was much sweat, something that hasn’t been there lately.  Running in cooler temperatures and cold temperatures tends to keep the body cooler, and I don’t perspire nearly as much.  However, with yesterday being nearly 75 degrees I was practically pouring once I stopped.  Today is supposed to be even warmer, but I cannot run.

My typical day has me out of bed by 4:45 and at work no later than 5:40.  This morning I found that I was up on time, but could not leave the house - there’s a sick kid.

I new something was up as soon as I left my room.  There was a certain smell that rushed at me, one that I’m all too familiar with, yet one that I really never have grown accustomed to.  It certainly wasn’t a smell I wanted to encounter this early in the morning, but there it was and I had no choice but to investigate and take care of it.

Some of it was in the bathroom, but the majority of it was in the boys’ room.  Having kids is never easy, and when one or more is sick it gets even tougher.  Normally I would clean the mess, wake the wife, and head to work.  I don’t have the luxury of leaving the house right now since mama is in Alabama.  I’m also not one to miss work very often, but when I do it is typically because someone else is sick, not me.

Why talk about sick kids here?  Well, this keeps me from getting any miles in today, and it just so happens that the sick kid is also my autistic son.  Any time one has a child with any sort of disability, it is only compounded by otherwise non-existent circumstances like illness.  The “normal” behavior is ramped up and made even more apparent.  In this case I’ll sometimes tell him, “Noah, your autism is showing!”  He understands the implied meaning behind that now (tone it down a bit, you’re acting up).  Having a child with any disability can be difficult, but having sickness with it just doesn’t help matters.

At least I’m home with him for a day.  Our interactions may not be the typical or normal, but we will be seeing more of each other today.  It’s never easy being a parent, but looking at the downside does nothing to make the situations better.  I’ll take what I can get, even if it means a day off from work to care for a sick kid.

Training Run & Camping

The boys and I were supposed to go camping yesterday, sleep over in a tent, do some hiking, and possibly catch our dinner with rod & reel. Weather has reared it’s ugly head again here in southern Ohio and made that near impossible. While it didn’t rain last night I am glad we made the decision to not go camping. Seeing as how I didn’t go camping I thought it best that I get up and hit the road for a few good miles, but the forecasted weather kept me inside. Things got done around the house today, little projects that I’ve put off for a while (finish coats on living room table, clean bathroom ceiling fan, laundry, basement work, etc.) Sometime just after noon though I noticed a little break in the storms and laced up my shoes.


The rain had quit only a half hour or so before I left the house, so the humidity was extremely high at 95%. The temperature wasn’t too bad at 73 degrees, but coupled with the high humidity it felt more like 80! I started with a slow pace and at mile 2 I was maintaining a nice 9:20 pace. I figured I could get around 5 miles in before needing to intake more water, so I guessed a course that would land me pretty close to that. The heat continued to rise throughout the run and by the time I was done it was 80 degrees and still high humidity. I got in 4.82 miles with a nice 8:50/mile pace. The second half of the run was a bit faster than the first half, but I felt good and finished strong.

Back to the camping: Noah’s 9th birthday was this past week and he had only asked for two specific items. 1) an air-soft pistol (plastic gun that shoots plastic pellets) and 2) a tent that at least he, I and his older brother could sleep and camp in. My wonderful parents got the tent and it sleeps more than the three of us. We shouldn’t have any trouble getting ourselves and all of our camping gear inside this beast! I just wish the weather had worked in our favor, we all really wanted to get away, even if only for a single day. There are few things Noah wants to try and explore, but the outdoors seem to be one of those few things he wants to dig into. I don’t know if there is any connection between him wanting to explore like this and his autism, but I sure look forward to finding out. Maybe sometime in the next couple of weeks we will be able to explore the great outdoors in depth and see if there is a connection.

Until then, keep up or catch up!