Last Friday, Mer made arrangements to meet a former student, Sarah, for supper at Friday’s. Sarah had also been in my school Irish dancing club, so I know her pretty well, and I was delighted to catch up with her again.

Sarah had just graduated from college, with a major in International Studies and a minor in Arabic. She wants to work in a position that has contact with the Middle East, and she spent a semester in Jordan. She has a good handle on all of the changes that have been going on with the Arab Spring, and so it was a fascinating conversation with her.

One fun thing that was different was that during supper, a young man going to Kent State came over to make a balloon animal for Sarah, which he made into a flower. We gave him a few bucks to help him, since it is how he is putting himself through college. I do suspect that he may have been influenced by the pretty blonde 22-year-old sitting at our table. Just a guess.

It came out during supper that Sarah had not yet seen The Avengers, and since Mer had not seen the movie yet either, I proposed we should go see it. Both Mer and Sarah were willing, and we found it was playing nearby at a convenient time. So I got a chance to see it again, and I still enjoyed it. Mer and Sarah expressed appreciation for it. In fact, at some point in the movie, when all these huge-armed men were running around on the screen, Mer started absentmindedly stroking my bicep. I expect she was reminded of me. At least I took it that way.

On Wednesday, I had what is likely to be my last official Connections outings with the guys. Connections is CVCA’s program of matching eight to twelve students with an adult, and we met once a week for the last two years. I like to do things with the guys outside of school as well, and so I organized one last outing. I met three of the eight guys up in western Cleveland to go for supper and games at Dave and Buster’s. Dave and Buster’s is a restaurant and huge arcade that caters to adults, although minors are allowed until 9:00 p.m.

The guys said it was okay that Mer could come along, so I had her company as well. So there was a party of five of us – me, Mer, Jon, Alec, and Nate. We met at 6:30, and had a very good and leisurely meal that lasted a little over an hour. We then headed into the game room.

The nice thing about Wednesdays at Dave and Buster’s is that it is half-price game night, and we got a $20 game card with each of our meals, so we were pretty well set for the evening. The guys jumped to the various first-person shooting games, and Mer and I tried a racing game before she gravitated to a six-player trivia game where you could win tickets that can be redeemed for prizes. Mer did pretty well at the trivia game, although she said she did better at answering the questions when she was not officially playing. I suspect that is typical of many players, including myself.

I played various games, although I never did find one that really grabbed me. The last time I was at a Dave and Buster’s (about ten years ago), there were several unusual games that appealed to me, like a skiing game and a whitewater rafting game. I still had a good time, but did not really get hooked on any game. I did find an old copy of Donkey Kong, and discovered how badly out of practice I am on old-school games.

Mer and I “banked” our tickets for a later date (about 750 tickets, which is fairly trivial so far), and we found the guys and said our farewells. It was about 10:00, so it had been a full evening, especially with our still having school on Thursday (well, Mer and I did – the seniors had already finished). I’m hoping to stay in touch with the guys over the years, and maybe even plan some reunion get-togethers. I’ll certainly get to see them at least one more time – for graduation this upcoming Sunday.

This last winter was extremely mild here in northeast Ohio. It was so mild, it allowed me to run outside most of the winter, with the unusual result that I was in half-marathon shape (able to run 13-14 miles) coming out of February. I was pleased by that.

Meanwhile, someone posted a small poster at school suggesting that runners could run the Cleveland Marathon in late May as a way to support Don Lichi, the husband of one of our school’s Spanish teachers, and formerly an avid long-distance runner until he was diagnosed with spinal cancer last fall. The sign caught my attention because I was actually in a place in my training where I could contemplate running a May marathon. I still was not sure, but kept thinking about it. Then, a few weeks later, the wife of one of our Bible teachers was diagnosed with cancer. I had also been praying some time for the daughter of another colleague, a CVCA graduate who had undergone several months of chemotherapy, and was now facing twelve to sixteen months of intense physical rehabilitation to learn to walk again.

So, I now had the possibility to run to support three people with strong ties to CVCA. That was too hard to ignore, so in late March, I e-mailed CVCA’s staff and some of my relatives to let them know I was going to run the Cleveland Marathon as a fundraiser for these three families. I also offered to bake desserts as an additional fundraiser for people if they preferred that method of support. In all, about $1,800 of pledges came in, so I was pretty well committed.

Last Sunday was the day of the race. I asked Mer not to come, since the Cleveland Marathon is shaped like a bow-tie or a figure eight, and as such is not a great spectator marathon. The key to good spectator marathons is easy access to different parts of the course, and with a bow-tie course, it’s hard to get from point to point because there are no shortcuts for spectators to take. I got up at 4:00 am, and was heading toward Cleveland at about 4:45. I parked the car around 5:15 about a mile from Browns Stadium, where the start line was, so that I could be assured of being able to leave after the marathon without being stuck in marathon traffic.

The pre-race was about bathrooms and battling nerves. The nerves made me want to use the bathroom a lot. Even though this was my tenth attempt at a marathon, I still get nervous for the race. The football stadium was open for bathroom use, and that was cool, as I got to see the inside the place, including getting to look down on the field. Outside the stadium, I lined up for the race around 6:30 as suggested, but I stayed seated on a curb to keep my legs fresh until pretty close to 7:00. The wheelchair division took off around 6:50, and we finally got underway at 7:00.

The day was already warm, and was going to get hot. The starting temperature was near 70, and there were no clouds to speak of. That was unfortunate, but there was nothing to be done except to drink a lot and pay attention to my body. The first two miles of the race were pretty crowded, as is the case in most big-city marathons I have run. The race started west and ran past a bluff over looking a pretty beach, and then we ran through a very swanky neighborhood. That was followed by some middle-class neighborhoods before coming back into the city across a long bridge that afforded a grand view of the skyline, which was hazy at this point (about 8:30 am). People were beginning to suffer from heat exhaustion, and from about mile ten onward, I heard many sirens. I kept drinking two or three cups of liquid at every water stop.

The half marathon split off from the full marathon downtown, for them to finish, and for us to slog on for another fourteen miles. It was just past the theater district when my favorite moment happened – I was running past a large church, and the doors were open. There was an amazing gospel singer’s voice pouring out onto the street. In front of the church were two priests in full formal vestments, cheering us on and sprinkling us with holy water. That made me smile for quite some time.

I was running well and on a good pace through miles fifteen and sixteen, but I could feel myself getting hotter. Finally, at about 17.5 miles, I started getting a few light chills, which is a sign of heat exhaustion. I did a rare (for me) smart thing and listened to my body. I decided to walk to the next water station, over a mile away, in an effort to let my body cool down. It was disappointing – I don’t like to walk during races, but it was not going to do anyone any good if I could not finish the race.

At least I had a pretty place to walk. Leaving the city was a bit tough; it was a three-mile straightaway of warehouses and offices and such, running right into the sun. At mile 17, the course turned north, and for three wonderful miles the road wended through a beautiful park, full of sculptures donated by other countries. It was lovely, and made the walking easier.

I did start running again around mile 19, and the route turned west again at mile 20, where it ran on a footpath along the lake. I was thrilled. Being that close to Lake Erie made the air a little cooler, and it was pretty. Sadly, it did not last. At mile 21, the course turned south, back into warehouses and such. The last five miles were rough. It was getting hotter, the crowd all but disappeared, and there was very little to look at. I had to walk several times from mile 22 to mile 25, but never so long as my first walk. I’m guessing that I walked 2.5 miles total for the race.

The finish was nice. The course took me downtown again, and then turned north toward the lake. The crowds packed the streets, cheering madly. The last half mile or so was all a slight downhill, so that made for a strong finish, even after such a long race. I was very glad to have finished.

I put in my third best race out of nine finishes. My best race ever was 3:28, but I knew that a repeat of that time was not likely, given the heat. I had hoped for a sub-3:45, but I finished at 3:50:11, with which I was happy enough. More importantly, I had finished the race, so I had maximized the money I had raised, which was largely pledged on a per-mile basis.

I walked back to the car after a couple of false starts that got me trapped by the marathon course. I had told Mer I would be home about 12:30, and I got home about 12:00. She had already looked up my time, so at least she knew I had finished.

We did go to a graduation party later in the day, but I’m afraid I was not much company. The party was inside because of the heat, and the house was very crowded, so I found a seat and pretty much stuck it out there. Mer made up for my social deficiencies, which was a good thing.

My stats from the race are:
26.2 miles
3:50:11
8:47/mile pace
Finished 511 out of 2634 finishers (top 20%)
Finished 406 out of 1597 men (top 26%)
Finished 64 out of 249 men ages 40-44 (top 26%)

First half: 1:46:31  — that pace would have been a 3:33:02 marathon if I could have held it.

Saturday was a mellow day. We slept in, and I wanted to take it easy because I was scheduled to run the Cleveland Marathon on Sunday. What better way to relax and take it easy than a four- or five-mile walk in the woods?

Recently, I was installing Google Earth, a program that shows you satellite images of the Earth, and I zoomed in near where we live. Someone had uploaded a picture of a row of trees bordering a trail, and it looked intriguing to me. It was on a park trail near our house, so on Saturday, I drove us over there. It was in a park to which we had been before, but when we were there last time, we had taken a trail that went to the south. This trail, the Plateau Trail, went north. I had no idea how far it went, but it turns out quite a ways – I’m guessing it was four or five miles. The trail was very pretty, and we got to see the rows of trees I had wanted to see. The shade kept us from getting too hot, and it was a very fine, if a bit long, walk.

We got home, and Mer ran some errands while I napped. When she got back, we headed off to our first graduation party of the year. It was at a house in nearby Hudson, and the family had set up tables with umbrellas for shade, so it was very comfortable. The food was excellent, although I ate conservatively so as to not risk being ill for the marathon. I did not really know anyone at the party, and I was getting nervous about the race, so I’m afraid I was probably not great company. I don’t think I was dour or rude, just quiet. Mer had a very nice time,  getting to catch up with a former student (the older sister of the graduating CVCA student). We left the party after about an hour, and went home, where I ate a chicken sub while we watched Downton Abbey. We went to bed fairly early since I had to be up at 4:00 a.m. to get ready for the race.

Last Saturday was a love-themed day. In the afternoon, Mer and I got to go to a friend’s wedding. Mer has known Megan for about thirty-five years, and Megan is an absolute sweetheart. She is especially good with kids. Megan got married to a co-worker named Joe. Joe and Megan both work at the Haven of Rest, a ministry designed to help the homeless and very poor. So, they certainly have good compatibility there!

The ceremony was fairly long, but I like long weddings. It really seems as if a wedding should be longer than fifteen minutes if you want to capture some of the personality of the people in the wedding. In the case of Megan and Joe, they had a video message to their families (played before the ceremony actually started). They had two pastors speak, gave individualized vows, and had a fairly large group of people who came up to the alter to pray for the newly married couple. It was quite touching. Mer really liked Megan’s vows, where she cited how she liked to play with Joe – to just have fun. Mer and I try to pull that off as well, so that was great.

The opening pastor did a great job of stressing the seriousness of marriage. He pointed out that when we live up to our marriage vows, God blesses us and is for us. But, when we break our marriage vows, it brings us into opposition to God, and that causes pain and grief. I had never heard that balance before at a wedding, and I thought it was wise.

There was a dessert reception in the church fellowship hall after the wedding, and I got to visit with Aunt Mary and the Bakers. There were a lot of other people from church there, and so I got so at least say hi to them as well. The desserts were excellent, and plentiful.

After the reception, I tried to swing by a friend’s house since he only lived three blocks away from the church, but he and his family were not home. We headed toward home, and on the way I swung by Zach’s house, but he also was not at home. I decided to take Mer to a restaurant on the north side of Akron for which we had seen the sign many times, but to which we had not actually been. We got there and found the place closed and for sale. I was not having too much luck this evening. We headed the rest of the way into Akron to the Spaghetti Warehouse, where we had great service but only okay food – it was not very hot for either of us. I had leftovers, so we had to drive home and then right back to Akron for the play we were seeing that night.

As is usually the case, we headed to Actors’ Summit Theater, so see their production of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change!, a play of skits about dating, marriage, kids, and retiring. Mer and I were both pleased that it was playing on the day of a wedding. Normally, I’m not a big fan of musical reviews, but because this play was a string of skits, the songs worked for each skit, and they were thus a lot of fun. The play played off a number of stereotypes about men and women and dating, but did so in a lighthearted and funny way. I generally laughed at the two guys in the play mocking men over the two women who were poking fun at girls, so I was buying into the cultural norms, at any rate.

The first act is very funny, and the humor continues in the second act, but is toned down by some serious issues about loving in the long term and even outliving your spouse. The cast kept up a very high level of energy for the whole show, which helped carry the show along. The set was simple – almost nonexistent:  it was made up of two arches for entrances – one pink and one blue. It was a lovely way to end a day devoted to love.

Last Friday was the seniors’ last day of regular classes at CVCA. They still have Senior Trip and graduation practices and graduation itself, but they are now all done with classes. That made me amazed and grateful that some of these seniors wanted to spend their first post-CVCA evening with me.

As some of you know, CVCA has small groups of students with an adult adviser, and the groups are called Connections or Connections Groups. I had a group of eight guys this year, and I tried to organize outings a few times during the year. I wanted to go to a minor league baseball game with the guys, but I am especially fond of fireworks nights at the ball park. The fireworks night that worked best for us happened to be on the last day of school for the seniors. Still, three of my usual Connections guys wanted to go, and another student to whom I am close filled in a spot for someone who could not make it; there were four eighteen-year-old guys and I, at an Akron Aeroes game.

I love the Aeroes stadium. It is small, and well kept, and the staff likes to do wacky things between innings, like have spectators dress up in sumo outfits and wrestle, or have a foot race between a guy dressed as a donut and a guy dressed as a cup of coffee. I really like minor-league baseball. And, in addition to the game and the random fun between innings, the fireworks display at the ballpark is hands-down the best fireworks I have ever seen. They are right in your face, and the shows always go about fifteen minutes.

It is a good thing that the other things are worthwhile, because, sadly, the game was not much to watch. The Aeroes got beaten 8-1, and it could have been worse. Happily, the fellowship with the guys was much fun, and we all had a good time, helped out by the amazing light show at the end.

There is still one last Connections outing for us – in a week or so we are supposed to meet at Dave and Busters restaurant and arcade, up in Cleveland. I’m still surprised that guys want to hang out with someone who is over twice their age, but I am pleased at the same time. Maybe I really did make a connection.

Last Friday was CVCA’s version of prom, the Junior-Senior Banquet. That is always a fun affair with good food and sharply-dressed people, but added to the fun this year was that I took the day off. I had been out until 3:00 in the morning to see The Avengers with some students, so I took a sleep-in day. I slept in, went running, and then took a nap. I was pretty well rested by the time Mer got home from school. The students also had the day off, so Mer had a pretty good day herself, but was still at school.

We both got ready, and Mer looked very pretty in her purple dress with long necklace. I wore my version of a tuxedo, which is a 19th-century morning coat (think Mr. Darcy in various Pride and Prejudice movie versions). We got to the Sheraton Hotel, where prom was being held, early so we could go over our brief parts in the evening entertainment.

Every year, there is entertainment in addition to food and picture-taking. Generally speaking, the entertainment goes over best when it involves teachers and staff, because the students know us, and they like us making fools of ourselves. This year, the entertainment was to give out “Academy Awards” for things like best smile, cutest couple, most-likely-to-become-a-superhero, best servant, etc. The prom was all movie-themed, and to introduce the ideas of our version of the Oscars, the faculty did small snippets from various movies. The Wizard of Oz, Star Wars, Back to the Future, and True Grit were all represented., in very tongue-in-cheek ways. Mer and I had the role of re-enacting all of The Sound of Music in about two minutes, as Maria and Captain Von Trapp. We had much fun with it, and the kids all laughed a lot, so I was very pleased.

After prom, there is a party hosted by CVCA parents, called, appropriately enough, After Prom. After Prom is held in a large facility like a YMCA, and this year it was held in the recreation center in Tallmadge. The rec center is really very nice, and the parents had a DJ, lots more food, board games, basketball courts, a small indoor soccer field, and a couple of bouncy-castle things. One inflatable involved four people trying to knock each other off pedestals, and the other involved two people being tied to bungee cords, and then trying to see who could go the farthest down the inflatable before being snapped back. There was also an excellent magician wandering table to table.

Mer and I got some food and sat with a colleague and his wife. We had a great time chatting, and the magician even came over to stump us with card tricks. After I ate a little, I wandered back to the basketball courts, and was amused watching the people using the inflatables. One of my students, who is in Royal Fools and is in my Connections group, challenged me to the bungee-race. I accepted the challenge, and paid for it by landing on my head once, and by landing in the wrong track once (the bungee cord snapped me over the inflatable wall between me and my student). It was fun, even though I lost.

Mer and I left soon after my inglorious defeat, but it was a fine evening. I really do like our version of prom.

Last Thursday was a long day, but a good one. We had the last Royal Fools improv show of the year, and after that, I had been invited by some students to go to a party at a house for about an hour, followed by a midnight showing of the superhero movie The Avengers.

The Fools show went off well. I was a little anxious about the audience, as it was a pretty evening out and there were other CVCA events going on that night. When we started the show, it looked as if there were about sixty people in the theater, which is a small crowd for us, but they were enthusiastic. People must have kept coming in, though, since I finally noticed a little way into the show that the theater was pretty full. I’m guessing we had over one hundred people, and they were really into the show. It was pretty spectacular.

The show was the longest show we have ever had – it went about an hour and forty-five minutes. Most shows go about an hour and fifteen minutes. This show went long because I try to let the students pick the games/skits they want to do, and they are very good at not picking the same games. As such, we had sixteen games for this show, when twelve or so is more normal. Plus, I always throw in a game for the graduating seniors, where I throw them a party and I have to guess what quirks the individual students have. I was pleased that even though the show went long, we never lost the audience.

The show itself went quite well. There were one or two moments where the energy and laughter ebbed, but that is pretty good for a show that long. The students felt it was the best show they had done, and on the whole, I was very pleased with what they did. It was pretty easy to play to an audience that was so energetic; I think after eight years of doing this, we are finally consistently getting improv-savvy crowds who know how the various games work, so they are quick with suggestions and quick with laughter.

Some of the games from the evening included:
– A slide show of the best pizza places in Italy
– A scene about a giant mechanical rabbit
– The tension between two siblings as one could throw a lacrosse ball and one could not
– An angry customer returning a fur coat to a store
– A short-order cook struggling to keep up with the pace of things, and the restaurant owner dying from a broken leg
– Justin Bieber giving a press conference on how he roasts marshmallows
– A musical chairs game about love in a lamp store that involved a genie
– A man being forced to marry a woman because she misunderstood him (while her hands were played by another Fool)
– My giving a party to four seniors, including a man who loved all Disney princesses

A good show indeed. After the show, we always have a social time where the audience can munch on snacks and chat with various Fools. I use this time to clean up, and I was pleased that even though the show ended at 8:45, by the time I was ready to go at 9:15, everyone was leaving. That was fortunate, because I wanted to get to the student party.

A couple of weeks ago, a few students invited me to a student party that was then going to go see a midnight showing of The Avengers. After mulling it over, I decided that when a bunch of eighteen-year-olds invite a forty-one-year-old to do anything with them, he really needs to go. I figured it would be a small party of eight or ten people, and then we would go see the movie. How wrong I was! There were at least thirty students at the party, and we met up with more at the theater, so that there were probably forty CVCA students at the movie, and me. I do have to say I felt pretty honored to have been the only adult who was with the group. The party was pleasant – there were food and lots of fun kids whom I know, and the evening was warm and pretty. We spent about an hour there, and then headed to the theater so that we could get there at about 11:00 so we could get good seats. It was a good thing we did get there early; the center seats were mostly taken, so we sat on the right-hand side and in the back row.

I had never been to a midnight showing of a major film before. It was a fun experience. The audience was full of superhero nerds who cheered loudly anytime anyone in costume came into the theater. It was also the first time I had been to a 3-D film, which I liked okay. I’m not sure I’m so into it that I will go out of my way for more 3-D movies, but that is what the students wanted, so I went along with them.

The actual film was great – one of the best superhero movies I have ever seen. It had a great balance of action and humor, and it was fun being in a theater where people cheered and laughed in all the right places. I headed home right after the movie, and got to bed about 3:00 am. Yes, I had already planned on taking the next day off, which was a teacher in-service day, so there were no students at school anyway. I do like being around students – they make me laugh, and I laughed a lot on Thursday.

Every year, we give Aunt Mary the same birthday gift. It makes it a little predictable, but she seems to like it, and we do too. Aunt Mary always gets a meal with us, followed by CVCA’s musical of the year. This year, since we were going to a Saturday matinee, we went to lunch together before going to see Cinderella.

We met at the Royal Buffet, a Chinese buffet restaurant near the mall in Cuyahoga Falls. We are all big fans of buffets, and the Royal Buffet does good Chinese. In fact, Mer and I were introduced to it years ago by a man who was a missionary to China, and his Chinese wife, who proclaimed it the best Chinese food around. They also have a hibachi grill option included in the price, where they will grill up various meats and vegetables that you want. It is nice to have an on-the-spot option like that, in addition to the five or six tables of buffet food. Needless to say, we ate well.

The CVCA matinee of Cinderella began at 2:00. We had good seats, about three rows back on the left-hand side, where I had a great view of the orchestra. The orchestra was made up of two pianos, three trumpets, a few woodwinds, and a trombone, and they sounded great together. I am always impressed by the musical talent of our students.

The set and production of Cinderella was pretty fantastic. The CVCA stage is not very friendly to plays, as it is shaped like a triangle, there is no “fly” space (space above the stage to raise and lower scenery), and there is no backstage to speak of (they use hallways as backstage storage). So, the props people tend to have to get creative, with scenery that either rotates to become other scenery, or sets that are highly mobile. They also have to allow for huge numbers of actors to be on stage for big dance numbers, since there were thirty or more people involved in the ballroom scene. In this case, the bigger sets were at the back of the stage for the palace ballroom, and they used smaller sets for other things, like Cinderella’s home. It worked well.

The play actually had some pretty terrific special effects. Brandon, the assistant director on this musical, came up with some very clever ideas on how to show magic. He used shadows cast onto a screen that was back-lit. So, when the pumpkin changed into a carriage, you could see it happen as a shadow outline. A tree became the fairy godmother, and Cinderella’s plain dress became a beautiful (and poofy) ballroom gown, all using the same shadow effect. It worked really well. Brandon also used a projector to cast clock “hands” on a clock that was mounted above the set, so we could see midnight approaching all though the ball scene. It was great.

The play itself was a lot of fun. CVCA did a slightly different version of Cinderella a few years ago, but this one was funnier. The step-sisters were hysterical, and the step-mother was obnoxious and evil. The prince’s steward also was over the top, to good comic effect, and the king and queen had great moments too. There were four puppet mice that interacted with Cinderella, and that was fun. Cinderella was well cast:  she was winsome and could really sing. The actor playing the prince was great in his role, although he was probably not at the same singing level as Cinderella; but that mattered little, as he had few solos and had a large number of speaking lines, at which he excelled.

So, even though it was the same old birthday present, we all had a good time, and still were home by 5:00.

Last Sunday, Mer and I got to go to a second wedding reception for our friends Matt and Clarice, who were married last month. It is a little unusual to have a second reception, but our best guess was that it was a chance for some family members who could not make it to the Friday wedding to celebrate. We also think Matt and Clarice are worth celebrating, so it was all good!

The reception was held at the Hudson Country Club, and it was very beautiful. The windows looked out onto the golf course, and Mer and I grabbed a table next to a huge window so we could see better. A couple of former CVCA students (one of whom was a founding member of my improv group) joined us, and we had a delightful time talking and eating. The food was fabulous, and copious. It is amazing that Mer and I are not massive. We were later joined by two other founding members of the improv group, and we got to see another half-dozen former students wandering around. It was a very comfortable afternoon with good people.

Mer and I did manage to get on the dance floor for a couple of dances before leaving. We also took four cupcakes with us, which we loved, since Matt and Clarice had a cupcake tasting party a year ago, to help decide on their wedding cake. It brought back fond memories. The only slightly down-side to the afternoon was that we did not get to see much of Matt and Clarice, since they had hosting duties. Hopefully we can catch up with them for a mini-golf outing once Meredith gets out of her swamped-with-grading time of year in a couple more weeks.