This old writer’s tale is about “but first” distractions. It applies to running too. And all procrastinating.

Big writing project ahead. Where to begin? Well, first, let’s get everything organized. Clean off the desk. Pay the bills. Everything ready? I better sharpen these pencils. Let’s see, where’s the pencil sharpener? Where’s the battery for the pencil sharpener? Oops, I think there are more pencils in the other room. I wonder if the neighbors have any pencils that need to be sharpened. There! All the pencils are sharp.

Better check the e-mail. I’ll get a cup of coffee while the computer boots up. Coffee anyone? I better make a pot. Was that the mailman? I wonder if he’d like a cup of coffee. Oh well, he’s gone. Now I can let the dog out. Oh, poor puppy, do you need to go to the park? Where’s your leash? Well, get in the car. We have to go get you a new leash. Groceries? As long as we’re going, where is the list? I better start a list.

Oh shut up! Start writing. Right! But first the dog park. Writing or running! They are the same when it comes to distractions. Don’t let it happen to you!

I don’t know what the average cost of entering a marathon, or half marathon, is these days. I know the marathon I run each year has increased the entry fee by about 300% in less than twenty years.

As in any other business, costs go up and they have to be passed down to consumers. Running events have gotten so big that everything about them is big. Apparently there is no economy of scale in the promotion, advertising, security, facility rental, permits, staff, medical, legal, printing, mailing and all the other expenses of an event.

That leads me to the $100 T-shirt. My wife would gladly help me find a nice T-shirt for less than $10. And she wonders, correctly, why I can’t just run 26 miles on my own, without 7000 other people. She could also point out, with appropriate sarcasm, that I usually run for solitude.

Well, I train without 7000 people. I put on the miles on my own. And I do enjoy solitude. But ultimately, the marathon is the goal I work for. I could do it all without that goal. But I don’t want to!

I wear t-shirts a lot, all summer anyway, and I like to say I don’t wear one unless I ran the race or walked the walk. (Celiac walk, a fund raiser for Celiac disease research. Good t-shirts!)

The $100 hamburger is common in general aviation, flying small airplanes. The cost of firing up the bird and flying to a nearby airport for a meal far exceeds the value of the meal by itself. It is flying for fun that just happens to include a hamburger. These days, when a lift ticket at a ski area or a round of golf is nearly $100, I guess a marathon or two per year is not a waste of money.

And I get the neat T-shirt.

NEED A BREAK? Read “The Milk Market” See reviews, a short summary, buy in print or ebook at
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Is it true? Our relationships are becoming wide and shallow?

We meet more and more people and make hundreds of new acquaintances every year. But few develop into friendships. Even fewer into deep friendships.

Everyone is so busy with their lives. There are just too few opportunities to relate for much more (or much longer) than a hello. We really need to give relationships a little more time!

Another problem, easy to overlook, is that there are so few good places to carry on a conversation. Few places intimate enough for two people or even two couples to share any depth. Without those kinds of places, how do we make friends or even maintain friendships? I mean where are the quiet places where there are no interruptions or distractions from television, kids, traffic, crowds or music?

I suppose it’s just me, but I long for the day when there were high back wood booths that put a couple of cherry cokes (or better yet a pitcher of beer) between two or four people. And a soda jerk or waitress who respected privacy, but kept the drinks coming. Then we could talk!

I favor the pitcher of beer. What would you expect from someone who named their dog “Barley”?

Comments? email dennis@themilkmarket.com
This is my response to a post by Jonathan Fields, the Career Renegade, “Awake at the Wheel.” I have enjoyed his posts at www.jonathanfields.com/blog/

Everyone should have a dream.
For John it was to rap.
He had the moves and rhythm
And he knew how to wear his cap.
—He dreamed of girls and pals.
—He dreamed of wealth and fame.
—He knew that he could make it so,
—He quit school to make his name.
—–I saw him last at Macy’s.
—–He’s now called “Sixty Cents.”
—–In golden bling, he lives his dream,
—–Rapping Christmas presents!

—I imagine that when you think of Las Vegas you think of sin city, the strip, what stays in Vegas…gambling, shows, big stars and all the other things that make it an icon. Some of these are positive, some negative but let’s face it Vegas makes a good living out of being outrageous.
—I didn’t run the Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday, but the newspaper report of the event reminded me of how much fun a marathon can be. The headline “It’s Just A Rolling Party” says a lot. The Marathon ran the Las Vegas strip which was closed for the event. There were 27,500 runners counting both the full and half registrants. Apparently, runners were in every imaginable costume including showgirls, the expected Elvis, and couples in wedding dresses and tuxedos. 85 couples either married or renewed wedding vows at a run-through chapel on the course. Oh, and Elvis lives! He is running marathons.
—Las Vegas knows there is no profit in same old same old. A vacation, or even a week end getaway for a marathon has to be to something unusual. Outrageous fits the bill. I understand. Not everybody loves it, but everyone has to appreciate it. I wish I would have participated.

—As a past and sometime relay runner, I have to comment on the death of Jeremy Kunz in Henderson, Nevada last Sunday morning.
—Jeremy, age 32, and his wife Melinda were participating in the Ragnar Relay. He was killed while cheering for his team-mates. A motorist lost control of his vehicle, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal, and hit Kunz before it skidded and rolled over. The drunk driver (alleged) ran from the scene but was later arrested by Henderson Police.
—Family members were taking some comfort in knowing Jeremy died doing what he loved and didn’t want the race stopped after the accident. Race officials said there had never been a fatality in a Ragnar Race.
—We know, those of us who have run relays, that we take every reasonable safety precaution. But a drunk driver always has the power to destroy lives.
—Please join me in prayer and sympathy for the Kunz family and for Jeremy’s wife Melinda.

—It’s easy to be right about money (when you have plenty of it.)
—I can’t tell you how tired we are of the self-righteous talking heads who know exactly how everyone else should handle their money and credit. The conventional wisdom they NOW spout is offensive to many of the poor souls who have been caught up in this recession and housing bust.
—“Don’t buy more than you can afford” is an insult to the hard working Americans who were striving for a better home, a better car, a college education and all the other things that make up the American dream. How can the “experts”, full of fiscal piety, fail to understand that most of the people in financial trouble today did nothing wrong? Their only sin was aspiring to the dream that all the “experts” told them was possible. They saw the dream slipping away when they lost their business or their job or their retirement plan.
—Now they have to listen to “I told you so” from the talking heads who would be living in Aruba on their lottery winnings if they had a crystal ball.
—No one had a crystal ball.
—The highly paid and respected bankers and investors had no crystal ball. Or they were so wrapped up in their greed they didn’t care. They got theirs! Mortgage origination fees AND a government bail-out!
—The highly paid and respected politicians had no crystal ball. Or they were so wrapped up in their ego and ambition they didn’t care. They got theirs!
—The poor slobs who just had a dream had no crystal ball either. Now do they need to be told that they should have saved more, or that they should have bought a smaller house, or should have lived within their means or that they should have deferred spending on their kids or on a college education? Now are you going to tell them that they should have resisted and said NO when the bankers and politicians told them everything was going to be just fine? WHEN THE BANKERS AND MORTGAGE BROKERS SAID THEY WERE “QUALIFIED?”
—If I can’t see these experts in hell, I would like to see them trade places with some of the hard working Americans who are the losers in the money and credit game.