Today is Christmas Day and it has been a good day with family. Last night Susan and Sarah came to the 10:30 p.m. church service where I was signing with the choir in my first Christmas Eve performance. We sang about twice what we normally do and with the late hour, I was pretty tired. Today I slept quite late (9:45) as a result. Good thing everyone else was in no hurry.
JoAnn came over and we opened the stockings as is our custom. Then we rustled up lunch and had a quiet afternoon. JoAnn and Susan reading/napping. Sarah and I went to see the movie Big Eyes which was good. We came home, had dinner and enjoyed sitting around until it was time for JoAnn to go home. She was talking about riding the bus to Wal-Mart tomorrow so that should be a good post-Christmas adventure.
I'm taking off tomorrow so I anticipate it should be a relaxing Boxing Day as well.
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Tuesday, December 16, 2014
McAllen Half Marathon
Sunday, December 14 was the McAllen Marathon and Half Marathon and Relay Marathon. Over 1000 people signed up for the half. A very large crowd.
The plan was to run with John Rodriguez as we had been training together. He'd been itching to go faster but I'd been trying to rein him back. Our goal was to train for the Austin 26.2 in February after all.
John seemed nervous and preoccupied that morning. Not sure why. We got there early and milled around. I looked for the fellow Maniacs warming up but couldn't find anyone. We saw some usual marathoning faces, Randy and Michelle, Scott Crane, City Commissioner, Frank, Tammy and others. At 7:00 a.m the gun went off and we started.
Following our plan (generally) we had our walk breaks planned. John was walking fast. Running about the same. Weather was mild. At mile 5 John said he cramped up and fell behind. I of course thought he was ahead of me and started running faster. He caught up but then we separated again. I ran the last few miles with Tammy and then by myself.
I had expected my time to be between 2:15 and 2:20 and came in on that number. My results are here. John came in at 2:24. We were in the second half of the 40-49 age group. As expected.
I enjoyed the finish line and then headed off to church. One of the advantages of running in Houston is the 0545 church service there. But the 1100 service at St. John's did fine.
Very bad news later that day made for a dark end. Our friend Scott Crane pulled out of the full marathon at mile 17, feeling bad. He went home, collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he died that afternoon - massive heart attack at age 50. Scott was an experienced runner so it was quite unusual that it happened. RIP Scott. You will not be forgotten.
The plan was to run with John Rodriguez as we had been training together. He'd been itching to go faster but I'd been trying to rein him back. Our goal was to train for the Austin 26.2 in February after all.
John seemed nervous and preoccupied that morning. Not sure why. We got there early and milled around. I looked for the fellow Maniacs warming up but couldn't find anyone. We saw some usual marathoning faces, Randy and Michelle, Scott Crane, City Commissioner, Frank, Tammy and others. At 7:00 a.m the gun went off and we started.
Following our plan (generally) we had our walk breaks planned. John was walking fast. Running about the same. Weather was mild. At mile 5 John said he cramped up and fell behind. I of course thought he was ahead of me and started running faster. He caught up but then we separated again. I ran the last few miles with Tammy and then by myself.
I had expected my time to be between 2:15 and 2:20 and came in on that number. My results are here. John came in at 2:24. We were in the second half of the 40-49 age group. As expected.
I enjoyed the finish line and then headed off to church. One of the advantages of running in Houston is the 0545 church service there. But the 1100 service at St. John's did fine.
Very bad news later that day made for a dark end. Our friend Scott Crane pulled out of the full marathon at mile 17, feeling bad. He went home, collapsed and was rushed to the hospital where he died that afternoon - massive heart attack at age 50. Scott was an experienced runner so it was quite unusual that it happened. RIP Scott. You will not be forgotten.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Darold Maxwell – 1947-2014
Darold Maxwell, who had a long and illustrious legal career,
died in October 2014 at the age of 67.
Darold was a native of California but had lived and worked in Houston
since 1979. He was a very intelligent
man, having graduated from Harvard Law School with high honors. After practicing law in San Francisco for 5
years, he moved to Houston to teach tax law full time at the University of
Houston Law Center. After teaching full
time for 2 years, he returned to private practice. He continued to teach law at UH Law as an adjunct professor for many years.
He took two sabbaticals during his career, one in the early
80s and another in the late 80s to sail extensively in the Caribbean, each for
a year at a time. He returned to live
and work in the Clear Lake area where he practiced law in his own firm since
1989. Sailing was a passion of his and
he was very involved in the local sailors community.
He will be remembered for his legal acumen, his high
standards, his teaching, and his love of sailing including his Harvest Moon
Regatta victories.
On a personal note, he hired a young UH Law graduate
straight out of school and spent much time molding him into the type of
associate attorney that he wanted to have.
He was demanding in a way that made you want to achieve the success of
his approval. Nothing worthwhile is
easy.
He achieved his goal of practicing law at a high level in
the area that he wanted to live and the lifestyle he wanted to have.
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