Monday, December 24, 2012

I thought I had a good idea for a final present for Holly.  We’d been to ‘House of Blues’ for dinner recently where she’d ordered a drink called ‘The Hurricane’ and really liked it…or so I thought.  Anyways, I’d copied down the ingredients to the drink and thought I’d go to the liquor store and buy them so we could make it at home once in awhile.

I’d written the ingredients on a cocktail napkin which I’d kept in my pocket since that evening.  As if that hadn’t beaten it up enough, I’d dropped it in the kitchen just before leaving and Dakota, sensing a tasty snack, had snatched it and started to chew it up.  Dog saliva had done nothing to improve the quality of my printing.  I needed three different kinds of Bacardi rum…Select, Superior, and Spiced.  They didn’t have the select, but I figured two hits of Superior with the Spiced and the Amaretto it called for, and she wouldn’t know what she was drinking.  I made my way to the check-out counter with my purchases and pulled out my credit card.

“Cash or debit card only,” the clerk said, as if I was from Mars.

And maybe I was.  I haven’t made a purchase in a liquor store in, well, maybe this was my first.  Anyway, it was $60 and I didn’t have that kind of cash on me.

“Um…I don’t have that kind of cash on me, so I guess I’ll see you later,” I said.

“Well…we could take the credit card but we’d have to hit you with a $2 handling fee,” he said.

How about that!  The state of Ohio did not want to miss out on my purchase and I don’t know who’s getting the extra $2 but I sure as hell didn’t want to have to come back here later with cash, so I let them ding my card.

I returned home and wrapped my presents and then headed for the park for a Survival Workout.  Time was limited since I needed to be at my sister’s by 2 p.m., so I did an abbreviated workout managing only 12 different exercises.  It was something, at least.

I arrived at my sister’s place to find that she’d invited over some old friends from the Cleveland Athletic Club days.  Stephanie was the first person I had ever coached in a triathlon after years of coaching high school runners and we’d formed a bond during that training that will last a lifetime.  At that time, she was a part-time lawyer, full time mom who’d gained some weight over the years and never done anything competitive in her life.  I was serving as her personal trainer and had gotten her to buy a bike and do some running.  She’d wanted to put in some pool time and after weeks of working with her on the crawl stroke, she finally nailed it and began putting in some serious laps.  Then I sprung the trap.
“Steph…why don’t you compete in a triathlon?”

She looked at me with a kind of stunned expression.   “I’ve…um…well…never done anything like that,” she said.

“Actually, I’ve had you doing one about three times a week,” I said.

I explained what and how I’d been training her and that I’d had it in my mind that she’d be ready for a sprint triathlon when I was through.  Well…I was through and she was ready.  She agreed to try and we signed her up.  I went to the race with her and her family that day and when she finished the race…third from last…you’d have thought she’d one an Olympic gold.  It was a proud moment for me and one I know she’ll never forget. 

I talked about my ‘Tour Ohio’ triathlon with her and her husband, Steve, who owns Tartan Yachts, a sailboat construction company in Fairport and we agreed that we should spend more time discussing their reintroduction to fitness and ways we could help each other. 

It was also my oldest son, Jason’s 28^th  birthday.  He was going to a bar in Willoughby later that night to celebrate and so the rest of the Rolfs, including underage Jack, made our way to the bar around 10 p.m.  I stuck with diet Coke, but Holly wasn’t driving anywhere and decided it was time to try downing her first shot when Jason asked her to join him in a birthday toast.  She’d already had a couple of drinks, but I had Jack with me and figured he could carry her to the car when the night was over…which is what he did.

In summary, I didn’t overeat and I did burn some calories.  More importantly, I made some connections that will help me continue to build towards a successful ‘Tour Ohio’ this coming summer and I spent a boatload of quality time with some special friends and my wonderful family.  Life is good this Christmas season.

Survival Workout: 45 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 100-150.
Calories burned:  400.