World Series and Halloween

Where to start? We are in the City of Brotherly Love, not 'cause of the World Series, but to attend the annual Halloween party of our crazy but lovable Lithuanian friends. They have a party in their old, renovated bank barn in Bucks County, PA. We made costumes of burlap to look like tea bags ( Tea Party, get it?). We wore Uncle Sam hats and carried Gasdsen flags. The burlap was so heavy and itchy that we ditched the costumes very early in the party. Had a ball, except for that game last night.

I pinch myself that we live part time in downtown Philly. While it is the sixth largest in population in the country, the downtown area is quite compact, being about 2.5 miles x 5.5 miles. There isn't much that happens of importance in the city that we don't all feel intimately. It is one of a handful of US cities where people actually live and work downtown in great numbers. In the case of Philly, that has been going on for some 300 years! The city has been buzzing with excitement about the games. The sports complex with Citizen's Park is at the southern boundary of downtown so there is no escaping what is going on. Add Halloween on top of that and it has been a very special weekend to be here. As of this writing, tonight's game is do or die for the Phillies. If they lose and fall behind 3-1, even though not mathematically out of it, it will be awfully hard to recover.

My training schedule now is geared for the final event. I only had to do 10 miles this weekend but next weekend I have to log in 20 miles. Then I have another 10 mile weekend before the second 20 mile requirement. After that the training ramps down rapidly in advance of Dec 12th. I find it somewhat counter-intuitive that the several weeks before the 26.2 are actually quite easy. Physiologists have figured this out over many years and the recovery period before the final event is essential to having a successful completion.

We hit the streets of Philly today. The pic on the left is "The Clothes Pin" ( obviously). It is a famous Claes Oldenburg installation. I featured another of his from Marfa in an earlier posting. The Clothes Pin is quite special to me 'cause I met Joe in 1985 when we both worked in that building in back of the Clothes Pin. Everyone in Philly knows The Clothes Pin. Aside from City Hall with the famous William Penn statue on top ( pic above), it may be the best known site in downtown. The pic on the right is from Franklin Square Park. Ben Franklin designed Philly around five squares, this being one of the originals. It has recently been renovated. The pic is a sand carving, honoring the NL Champ Phillies. It about 10-12 feet tall. The city fathers change out the sand carving seasonally and they are always fun to see. The square has a carousel, with horses molded from original carousel molds from the 1800's recently discovered in a warehouse. A large fountain and food concessions make the square a favorite spot in the city. There is a putt putt golf course in the square where each hole features a famous Philly historical location. We are luckly to live a couple of blocks from it.

My honored hero today is Benny. Benny was Joe's TNT biking coach in 2003 when Joe did a 100 mile bike ride for TNT in Santa Fe, NM. When we first met Benny he had already coached no less than seven TNT century bike rides. He didn't look much like a biker as he is a big hulking guy--but he could really bike. He is an attorney in Kent, OH and despite a demanding career, he had really dedicated himself to being a TNT bike coach. TNT has many thousands of volunteers but the bike coaches in my opinion have the toughest jobs. They have responsibility for amateur bicylists where safety is a big concern, training for many hours on roads with car traffic. They have to worry about helping their team with a lot of bike mechanical issues. During an event they assist with many flat tires and other mechanical problems. Before the event, all bikes for the team have to be partially dis-assembled, packed, and shipped to the event venue. When they arrive they have to be put back together and calibrated to everyone. After the event, the bikes have to be taken apart again and shipped home. Take Benny as example, when the team biked 100 miles, Benny may have biked 150 miles. He constantly circled back to ride along someone who was struggling at the rear. Or he sped up to reach someone with mechanical problems. For every mile Joe biked, Benny may have biked 1.5 miles. He never complained.

About halfway into Joe's 16 week bike training, Benny's high school daughter Lauren was diagnosed with Lymphoma. What an ironic, cruel twist of fate for this great guy who had spent so many hours volunteering and coaching for TNT. We saw Lauren during the course of the event and at a later party, wearing a scarf to cover her bald head. The bike team dedicated their event to Lauren as one way to honor Benny for his selfless work to help the team and TNT. We've lost touch with that part of our connections in Northern Ohio but I am inspired to find out how Lauren is doing. She should be 22/23 years old by now, well on her way to a great life as a survivor, we hope.

Leukemia factoid: MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston (Univ of TX) has the largest practice of leukemia specialists in the world. Also big in the treatment of adult/children leukemias are Johns Hopkins ( Baltimore), Memorial Sloan Kettering ( NYC), and the Mayo Clinics in MN, FL, and AZ.

Of particular importance for childhood leukemias are Children Hospital of Philadelphia, which is generally considered the best pediatric hospital in the country, St. Judes ( Memphis), and Children's Hospital (Boston).

Things to be thankful for: my Lithuanian friend Zee who has been my close "peep" for 20 years; Philly CarShare where city people can rent a car by the hour or by the day; no transit strike in Philly during the World Series.