A Weekend On and Off the Road

Friday afternoon, I rove through a downpour of rain to get to Andrea McCoy's wedding at the Hermitage.  Jude had left with JP for Memphis, so he could run in the Frank Horton Night Classic on Saturday evening, while Joe would be at home and on his own for dinner.

I had a bourbon in the Oak Room before the wedding, which was a nice way to end the work week.  I hadn't been to the Hermitage, or the Oak Room, for at least two decades, if not more.  Now, as one of the old guys, it was nice to sit for a few minutes, sip my bourbon, and watch and listen to the younger, energetic, patrons in the bar, many of which were at the Hermitage for Andrea's wedding.

The wedding was beautiful and Andrea was stunningly beautiful.  Tall, thin, and sparkling in a brilliant white dress, as she walked down the aisle in the terrace, I felt so happy for she and Austin.  I wish them a wonderful life together.  Dinner was delayed after the wedding, so I breached etiquette and left to go home and spend the evening with Joe.  My "Irish exit" was accompanied with more than a little guilt but I knew the weekend would be crazy and I would be in Memphis on Saturday, so I hated to miss a night to hang out with Joe.

Saturday morning, after Joe's 9 a.m. baseball game in Hendersonville, I drove back home, picked up a few things, and headed to the AirBnB I had rented in Memphis, five minutes away from Shelby Farms Park and the cross country course.  We'll return there for the state cross country meet in a few weeks, so it was a a good change for the boys to run the course once in a race before state meet.  JP wanted to post a fast time but he was coming off a stomach virus that kept him home from school on Thursday and left his ability to run the race at all in doubt.

In the end, he was on the line for the final race of the evening, at 8:30 p.m., in what really was a pretty cool atmosphere.  Lights posted on the course, attached to generators, and globes of some sort on the back side of the course.  Pretty cool.  Prior to the race, JP mentioned to Jude that he wasn't feeling particularly well, which portended a difficult race for him.

That's what happened, too, as JP ran in the lead pack for the first couple of miles before he seemed to run out of gas.  He probably ran the first mile too quickly, in 4:40, and that, combined with the fact that he was still under the weather, made the last mile a difficult one for him.  He finished 8th overall at 15:41, behind Gabe, who was 5th.  It's hard to quibble about a 15:41 race, but JP was disappointed afterwards.

JP and I decided to drive home after the race, rather than have him ride the bus.  His car was at our house and he had some things to take care of Sunday morning.  Plus, his stomach was still giving him trouble and we knew it would be easier to stop if I was driving rather than if he was riding one of the buses back to MBA.  He slept most of the way back and, in the end, we were glad to be home when we arrived shortly after 1 a.m.

Sunday morning, still groggy, I drove over to Hendersonville for Joe's game.  T'hey lost 2 - 1, mostly because they just couldn't hit, which seems to be a theme with this group.  Hopefully, that will improve in the offseason, because it will need to.  I'm committed to getting Joe hitting again, which will necessarily involve him gettin stronger.  There's a theme there, I know.  Joe needs to get stronger.

At the game, I was reminded of why we chose for Joe to play with the NBA Cannons.  Brad Lusk picked up Joe from the McDaniels' house for the game, further proof that it takes a village to raise a child.  I spent a large part of the game talking to Kristin Lusk, while Brad chatted with Ben and Audrey Phillips.  Having Joe play baseball with Bennett (Lusk) and Huck (Phillips) is going to be fun.

Joe and play a lot - and I mean, a lot - of ping pong ever the weekend.  I am on a bit of a roll, beating him 4 - 1 on Saturday and 6 - 0 last night.  He was not happy.

It's going to be a busy week.  Aren't they all, though?

At the Old (Travel) Baseball Game

I will forever have a love-hate relationship with travel sports.  Mostly hate, actually, because it's such a racket.  

This morning at Drake's Creek in Hendersonville, I will watch Joe play in what very likely will amount to a C +, or B - (if they're lucky) baseball game.  In other words, this will be a recreational league-level baseball game in which the parents of players on both teams have paid $2,500, give or take, so their sons can play "travel baseball."  Few of these boys will play high school baseball and none of them will play college baseball.

Our guys, 13 and 14 years old, are undersized.  Somehow, all of Joe's "travel" baseball teams are undersized.  As I look at the other team, which has much bigger boys, I feel confident in predicting a blowout.  Joe's team will be gonged early is my guess.   

Recreational baseball has been ruined by travel baseball, which is a shame.  I could write a book about it and, maybe, someday I should.

POSTSCRIPT    

In game one, a 5 - 3 loss, Joe pitched four scoreless innings in relief.  He struck out three, walked one, and only gave up one hit.  There were some hard hit balls but his defense played well behind him.  Although he's lost at the plate right now, he had a two strike, RBI single to right in his last at bat.

The Cannons lost game two badly, 13 - 4.

Elon

Another couple of days, another official visit, this time to Elon University.  I'm tired and ready to be back home, so I know JP feels the same way.  After all, he's been the one on display for the past four days, having to turn on the personality as much as possible as he meets new people - possible future teammates - coaches, etc.  That's a lot to ask of anyone, particularly someone like JP, who tends to be relatively quiet and understated most of the time.  I know he will be glad to finish up our trip and get home, although I'm sure he has a ton of school work to get to, since he will have missed two days of school.

Elon is a beautiful campus.  Bigger and more spread out than Davison College, there are huge, old growth oak trees everywhere.  It's bucolic to be sure, and very peaceful.  It helps, of course, that we're visiting on two of the most gorgeous days of the year at the very beginning of fall weather, after a almost four months of summer heat that it felt like would never end.  As I told someone yesterday, it felt like August lasted 7 1/2 weeks this year.  

JP's hosts, Peyton (Charleston, SC) and Luke (Boston, MA), have been great to spend time with.  Very friendly, smart, and outgoing.  Honestly, just very nice young men that I know their parents are proud of.  Certainly, they're the type of boys I could say JP hanging out with and developing lasting friendships.  Of course, that seems to be true of most of the places we've visited.  Distance runners seem to share certain personality traits.  Easy to get along with but competitive.  Disciplined.  Serious about getting the work in, athletically and academically.  Supportive.  Unselfish.

I'm going to finish up my coffee at the on campus coffee shop and bar, The Oak Room, and hustle over to meet with JP and the coaches for a tour of the athletic facilities and a meeting.  Afterwards, we'll drive to the Raleigh, NC airport, return the rental car, and fly home.  

Home.  It has a nice ring to it, especially with the fall season upon us and Halloween around the corner. 

Davidson

I love college towns.  Maybe, it's small college towns that I love, on second thought.  Sewanee.  And, Davidson, where I am today with JP, who is on an official visit.  Well, I am not actually with JP, as he stayed in the dorm last night with a member of the cross country team and he'll be there again tonight, as well.  I did get to see JP for a while today, as the parents and their boys/girls met up for a presentation at Career Services and a tour of the athletic facilities led by the track and field coach.  Now, he's off again with his host, although I will see him at dinner tonight on campus.

It's been a whirlwind of a visit to Davidson College.  All of these official visits are whirlwinds, to be sure.  There's added stress this time of year, too, as boys and girls are committing every day to various colleges and universities to run cross county and track, and there are a limited number of spots available.  It's a bit like a game of musical chairs, or at least it feels that way to me.  JP and I will meet with the coach in private tomorrow, then off we go, 48 hours after we arrived on campus.

I know JP is feeling pressure to make a decision all while assimilating as much general information about colleges and universities as possible, along with specific information about their cross county and track teams.  All of this while training for his senior cross country season, competing at the highest level in cross country meets, and studying to maintain his stellar academic record at one of the two most rigorous and demanding high school in Tennessee.  Oh, and it's his senior year and last year at home, so he needs to find some time to enjoy himself.

Wow.  As Jude and I say, "that's a full lid."  Indeed.

Davidson is beautiful.  A small undergraduate only school with a student population of roughly 2,000 and an average teacher-student ratio of 8:1, it's nestled in a small town - Davidson, NC - that's less than a half hour out of Charlotte.  Perhaps it's because this is the first fall weekend after a dreadfully long and hot summer that extended well into September, but I'm really taken with Davidson College and the surrounding area.  

Dinner last night, solo, at Flat Iron, coffee this morning and again, right now, from Summit Coffee on Main Street.  Students, children, and locals walking up and down the sidewalk on a gorgeous fall day.  It doesn't get much better than this, at least for me. 

I think I'm going to drive back to the hotel in my rental - a Genesis sports sedan of some sort (quite a nice ride) - and unwind for a little while before I drive back over for the catered dinner tonight.  Although I've thoroughly enjoyed meeting the parents of the other distance runners visiting this weekend, I'm kind of talked out, honestly.  I would be perfect happy to have dinner again, solo, with a nice glass of wine.  Still, I'll decompress for a bit then drive back to campus.

I love fall.

Running the Table

Joe's MBA Junior School cross country team ran the table on Thursday when they won the meet at USN's River Campus, finishing the season undefeated.  The HVAC championship meet is this Thursday and while Coach Elijah Reynolds' squad will be the favorite, USN has run a close second at every race.

In junior school at MBA, the athletic seasons pass by so quickly.  Cross country is almost over, then it's on to soccer.  I've really, really enjoyed watching Joe and his teammates race, although the weather has been horrendously hot.  

I don't want Joe's cross country season, and how much it's meant to me to watch him run, to get lost in the excitement of JP's quest for a 5k under 15:00 and a state title.  Joe has had an outstanding season, which is a result of all the work he put in this summer and has continued to put in since school started a few weeks ago.  

Every race, Joe has consistently finished 7th or 8th overall and been in MBA's top 5, scoring runners.  As I've learned over the years with JP's group, almost every cross country team has a runner or two who can challenge for the top spot.  What makes a successful cross country team, though, is depth.  When MBA qualified for NXN in Portland, OR, during JP's freshman year, it was because they were so deep.  As freshmen, JP and Gabe Guillamondegui were already high level runners who gave the team an opportunity to compete an a level unseen for several years.

In Thursday's race, for example, Cullen Weaver battled the leaders early, and finished third overall.  Joe ran with a group of MBA runners who finished 6 - 10.  Having that many boys running that close together effectively ended any chance USN had at finishing first overall, even though they had three very good runners in the top 10.  That's depth.

Joe finished Thursday's race in 11:56, another PR for him.  Two miles in under 12:00 is a strong run.

To see Joe's growth as a runner this summer and fall has been a tremendous and unexpected blessing for me.  As I've written before, I was a little skeptical when Joe approached me at the end of the school year last spring and suggested he wanted to run cross country this fall.  I wasn't sure what his motivations were but I knew - I mean, I really knew - that if he wanted to do it, he would need to train his ass off all summer.  I just wasn't sure if he had the desire and the discipline to do it.

I also wanted Joe to want to run cross country for the right reasons.  Not because his brother was such an accomplished cross country runner.  I wanted Joe to want to run for Joe, and for no one else.  Not for JP and certainly not for me.  At one point, JP intervened on Joe's behalf and initiated a conversation with me to convince me that Joe was serious about wanting to run cross country in the fall.

I agreed, bought Joe a pair or two of running shoes, and off he went.  Joe ran all summer long in the mornings.  His dedication impressed me because I hadn't seen him commit to something with his whole heart and mind in the past.  Over the course of the summer, Joe turned himself in to a runner.  His body changed and, I think, he gained confidence in his ability to run.  This fall, I think he's gained confidence in his ability to run well, even in extreme heat. 

Joe has really, really enjoyed being part of the cross country team.  As I learned with JP, there is a bond that the members of a cross country team share that is different than with other teams.  The boys spend so much time together, running.  Training and racing is a shared experience at all levels of skill.  With Joe's team, too, Elijah Reynolds does such an amazing job with the boys, too.  He instills in them a love of running, I think.

What does the future hold for Joe as a runner?  Honestly, I don't know.  My hope is that he will run cross country in high school, but he's going to have to love running to do it.  The time commitment and the training will increase, of course.  However, his confidence will grow if he dedicates himself to running.  Most of all, though, I want Joe to sustain a lifelong love of running, like I have.  My fervent hope, for Joe and JP, is that they will run throughout their lives.

It's not about the running.  It's what you learn from the running.

Southern Showcase

This morning, JP and his MBA team ran in the Southern Showcase in Huntsville, AL.  Traditionally, it's the premier high school cross country race in the south, as it attracts some of the best teams from nine or 10 states.  This year, for example, Belen Jesuit out of Miami, FL - one of the best high school teams in the country this year - was there and had runners finish 1-2-3.  Quite an impressive feat.

I stayed home with Joe and Jude drove down last night for the race.  I hated like hell to miss the race but I went with JP to the Cecil Field Summer Classic saw him run in the Chickasaw Trails Invitational last week.  To be honest, too, I'm a little superstitious.  JP has run his best races when I wasn't there, so I thought my staying here might change his luck on a course at John Hunt Park where he hasn't run his best in the past.

Did it work?  That I don't know.  What I do know, though, is that JP finished 10th out of 241 runners and ran a blazing 15:08.  He ran out of gas the last 10 yards or so and a couple of Tennessee runners, Trey Bailey (Greenville High School) and Tommy Babbit (Maryville High School) nipped him at the finish line.  Still, a great run in hot and humid weather and only four second off his PR of 15:04.    

I watched the entire race live on a video feed, which was excruciating.  I could see, after the first mile, that Marcelo Mantecon (Belen Jesuit Prep) was going to win handily, which he did.  I desperately wanted JP to stay connected with the lead group after Marcelo, which he was able to do.  That made all the difference, I think, in his pace and time, and enabled him to run one of his best races ever, all things considered.  

JP is hunting a time below 15:00 and before the season is over, I think he will get it.  

For the season, so far, he's finished 6th, 1st, and 10th, which is none too shabby.  Next weekend, he and I are visiting Davidson College and Elon University, which should be informative and fun.  

After JP's race, I got my three mile run in before it got too hot.  It was funny - I ran through the Ronald McDonald House 5k on Fairfax.  Joe just got back from his three mile run.  His fall cross country season ends next week with the HVAC Championship Meet.

  

My Lion in Winter

This is a hard one to write.

Yesterday, I called my friend, Ed Silva, on my drive in to work to check on him.  Ed's 83 and a couple of months ago, he was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma.  He's been in and out of the hospital - Williamson County and Vanderbilt - a few times, initially for extended stays.  He's lost a lot of weight, too, which isn't great.  His doctor recently changed his treatment from a chemotherapy pill to an infusion, apparently because the chemotherapy pill wasn't as effective as had been hoped.

I was a little concerned because I had called Ed on Monday but gotten no answer, and he hadn't returned my call or texted me, which was odd.  He answered the phone yesterday morning when I called, though, but it didn't even sound like Ed that I was talking to.  In a high pitched, almost shrill voice, Ed told me he was back at Williamson County Medical Center, had a lot of pain in his right leg or foot, and wasn't sure how long he had been there.

I called a mutual friend and learned that Ed had been admitted to the hospital Tuesday night due to a blood infection that was causing cellulitis, accompanied with redness, swelling, and pain, in his right leg.  Not good.  He was on medication for the pain and a heavy dose of antibiotics. 

I drove straight to the hospital and tracked Ed down on the fourth floor, where he had just been moved to the critical care unit.  A nurse I talked to wasn't able to tell me why he had been moved since I am not family.  Ed and I probably see that a little bit differently, as he's been a surrogate father to me in many ways over the past three decades that I've practiced law in Franklin.  

When I finally found Ed's room - # 467 - I was taken aback by how diminished he looked, lying in the hospital bed, connected to an IV drip and various other machines.  He's lost 30 + pounds which, truthfully, he could afford to lose, but still . . . physically, he's far from the lion he's always been.  The raw physicality, the girth, the strength, that's all gone, which is to be expected.  Still, it's hard to see it firsthand.

More troubling, at least yesterday, was how different his personality was because of the pain medication he is taking.  Ed was emotional when I walked in, near tears at times, which is a side of him I've rarely, if ever, seen in the past.  A healthy Ed Silva is gruff, profane, gregarious, confident, and loud, in all of the best ways.  That's not who Ed is now and it's not who he was yesterday.  It may not be who he ever is again, and that's very, very difficult for me to accept.  

I realize, of course, that where Ed is now, physically, is a part of life.  Still, it's a very difficult part of life, most difficult, I know, for Ed and his family.   

What I think, too, is that true friendship is what I experienced yesterday at the hospital with Ed.  Sitting for a while with my one remaining professional mentor and holding his hand, helping him take and swallow at least a dozen different pills, asking a nurse to give him something for his pain, and telling old stories to distract him - that is friendship, plain and simple.  In truth, it's probably the purest form of friendship, and it was a blessing for me to experience it with Ed in his hospital room.  

In my legal career, certainly since I've been in Franklin, there is no one upon whom I have relied so much for advice, perspective, and support.  Over the years, I've called Ed or stopped in to see him when I've had a problem with a judge, a client, or another attorney.  I sought him out for advice 20 + years ago when we bought and renovated our building in downtown Franklin.  His advice always has been on point and what I needed to hear.  When I've needed Ed, he's always been there.

We've laughed together, a lot.  And we've argued when we had cases against each other.  Ed has mediated for me and I've mediated for him, too.  We've talked on the phone countless times to discuss cases when one of us called the other to get an opinion on a case or a novel legal issue.      

For years, my partner, Chas, and I have affectionately called Ed "the Godfather."  He loved the nickname, and loved it even more when Chas and I had business cards made for him, on heavy card stock.  On the front, it said "Ed P. Silva" and underneath that his name, centered, "The Godfather."  On the back, it said, "It's not personal.  It's strictly business."

Like Steve Cox and Don Smith before him, Ed Silva has been one of my lions.  It's so hard to see him sick, to see him struggling, even though I know what he is experiencing is part of life.  The hard part of life, to be sure, but a part of life nonetheless.  And to the extent I can, I'm going to be be there for him in the same way he has been there for me.