Spider Man, Escaping the Escape, John Q Public

Ali had mentioned how it would be cool to see a Broadway show while we are in NYC.  Well I am not exactly a theater kind of guy but I am a super hero guy.  I was happy that Ali was open to seeing the Spider Man show.  After doing some research I secured us two tickets the Tuesday before we fly back home.  They weren’t cheap of course but I think it will be a great addition to the trip.

The Escape from Miami triathlon is coming up in a couple weeks.  This was the first triathlon I ever participated in last year.  Ali has been signed up to do the Olympic distance event this year.  I had not decided if I was going to do it again or not this year.

My initial reservation was because the event was brutal, particularly the run at the end back and forth over a massive, steep overpass.  Since then I have done 3 other triathlons and have done better each time so I am pretty sure the Escape wouldn’t be quite as daunting this time around.

However more recently the issue has become more of a physical one.  My right knee is really bothering me right now.  When I get up from sitting any period of time my first several steps have a pronounced limp from stiffness and soreness in the joint.  My right knee has always had soreness from running but it was typically short term and would be ok by the following day.  Well since the Central Park run that has not been the case.

After my 7 mile run on Saturday the stiffness/soreness returned and is still sticking around.  It’s bad enough that the normal Wednesday squat routine at the gym is off the table.

So anyway this knee thing helped make my decision for me regarding the Escape, I’m not going to do it.  I need to get healthy enough to pull off the Tough Mudder in December which dwarfs the Escape in terms of punishing your body.

I had ideas of maybe just tagging along to the Escape with Ali and the girls to serve as a photographer but I’m not going to do that either.  First it allows me to watch the dogs instead of bugging my mom to come out for a day. Second watching others participate in athletic events that I normally would do myself doesn’t do much for my self esteem.  It will just be a formula for frustration. I also got the sense from Ali that she would kind of be into it just being an “all girls” weekend anyway.

I made the mistake of watching some clips from the latest republican debate.  It just aggravates the hell out of me.  The only candidate I like on that side is Ron Paul.  Romney, Perry and Bachman make my skin crawl for different reasons.

Yesterday for some reason an odd event from my childhood was floating through my head.  When I was a kid I had an autograph book.  I don’t really remember the real intent of the book but in a nutshell you were supposed to get the signatures of various common everyday people like a policeman, the grocer, firefighter etc…  Well I was into completing the book with all of the signatures of the various types of people.

I had actually gotten a few of the signatures and was sort of proud of my progress.  Well my Dad one day thought he would be helpful and signed different spots in the book I was missing with fake names.  One of them he signed as John Q Public.  I recall quite vividly being very upset that he did that, forever tarnishing my autograph book, invalidating it.

Why I was thinking about this yesterday I couldn’t tell you but all I know is it is a memory that is burned into my head.  I can still exactly picture what John Q Public’s signature looked like.