Mistake vs. regret

My friend Lonny Cale and I participated in the indoor triathlon at the YMCA in Muscatine last week. It’s always on the Sunday before the Super Bowl, so it’s sort of a cure for football withdrawal.

Training for these indoor tri’s is great motivation for keeping in shape through the winter doldrums. There’s another indoor tri toward the end of February at the Y in Marshalltown, and one at the Y in Washington in March. Almost anyone can do these with a little effort. Swim, bike and run, all indoors. You don’t even have to be a good swimmer. They will let you walk on the bottom (in the shallow end) if you want.

Events such as these would not take place if it weren’t for volunteers. A timer is assigned to each participant. My timer was 15-year old Darion Subbert. He weighs in at 105 pounds and is a wrestler. Darion was great encouragement, shouting out laps, keeping time and offering water. Thank you, Darion.

Lonny got to telling running stories on the car trip home. Some time ago, he was getting ready for his morning run. He and his wife, Gale, routinely have their daily medications all laid out on the kitchen counter. Lonny scooped up what he thought was his blood pressure medication and headed out the door.

A mile or so into the run, he had to urinate. Since Lonny runs along the highway, it’s difficult to urinate in the ditch without being busted by a passing motorist. But he got the job done. Another mile down the road, he had to urinate again. All-in-all, he had to urinate five or six times on his morning run. And yes, he was caught by a passing motorist, the motorist tooting his horn and waving as he went by.

When Lonny got home, his blood pressure pill was still on the table. He had taken his wife’s fluid pill.

Lonny had run for years with his dog, Indiana. Indiana has since passed, but Lonny and his dog were a common sight along the highway. Seventeen-year old Indiana was experiencing hip problems, so when Lonny took glucosamine for joint lubrication, he also fed one to his dog along with the dog’s arthritis medication. Lonny would stuff these pills inside some hamburger or cheese and feed it to Indiana. Lonny was in the middle of this operation, giving pills to his dog and taking pills himself. He looked in his hand and realized he had taken Indiana’s arthritis pill. Uh-oh.