I just finished a 5 mile night run in the 'hood, which is longer than I've run in a while. I felt good and strong, which is nice. I still have some lingering pain in my right hip, but I've grown to accept the fact that unless I embark on a legitimate stretching/strengthening plan, I just may have to deal with it when I run. I ran my old 5 mile "Graybar" route, much as I used to when we lived on Elliott Avenue. I just started and finished at Linden Avenue.
It was strange to run by our old house and see a Christmas wreath still on the front door. The new owner still hasn't moved in, although there have been workers there pretty regularly. My old maple tree is there, of course, and she's had some flowers planted in the garden, but there's not furniture in the house. It makes me sad, I guess, to think of how alive that house was with laughter, tears and everything in between for more than a decade, yet now it's silent day after day. In a weird way, I wonder if the house is lonely with no one living there inside it.
This weekend the NHL All-Star Game was in Nashville. J.P., Joe and I took it all in, from Fan Fair on Saturday afternoon, to the Skills Competition on Saturday evening, to the all-star game in its new 3-on-3 format Sunday late afternoon. Jude didn't have any interest in going, so it was just the three of us hanging out together, which was fun.
We had good seats in the lower bowl (section 109, A, 1-3), which gave the boys a close up look at a lot of the action. We saw the Predators' own Shea Weber defend his title Saturday night in the hardest shot contest with a 108.3 mph slap shot into the net right in front of us. This afternoon, we saw Jaromir Jagr, a first ballot hall of famer, score a goal on a nifty move. That was really cool. We also saw John Scott, voted on to the western division all-star team by the fans as a prank, score a pair of goals and win the MVP (also by fan vote). Fantastic.
When the third 3-on-3 game started (Atlantic vs. Pacific, I think), Joe and I decided to go for a walk to look for team mascots. Periodically, they had been roaming through the concourse and into the stands. I lifted Joe onto my shoulders - his latest thing is he loves to ride on my shoulders - and we walked in a circle around the inside of the Bridgestone Coliseum. Suddenly, up ahead, I saw a big, bright blue mascot. It was the Tampa Bay Lightning mascot. He gave Joe a hug, then kneeled down with his arm around Joe so I could take a picture with my cell phone.
We continued on our walk, when Joe (back on my shoulders) yelled out, "Daddy, there's one!" and pointed to the left, in an entrance to a section of seats. Sure enough, there was a hairy, orange mascot - Youpe - the Montreal Canadians mascot. We walked over to him and waited until he turned around to face us. He saw Joe and before I could say anything, he scooped him up in the air, cradled him in his arms and posed for a picture. A moment in time captured forever. Good stuff.
At one point during the game, as I sat there between my boys watching the best hockey players in the world, I marveled at how lucky I am to have two sons who love sports as much as I do. It's pretty special.
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