2013 Fargo Marathon

Posted on May 18, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I love running!

I love training! My body, mind and soul all benefit from having a steady routine. Training for races has been the one constant during the last four years that seems to make everything else flow along smoothly. Looking forward to workouts and then completing them fill me with an energy than carries through into all parts of my life. Everything from my work to my marriage and family seem to be better when I’m training.

I love completing races. I feel great about myself after completing a race, any race, but especially a marathon. It gives me a confidence that carries through in all that I do. I walk a little taller, with a bit of a swagger after a race, although it may be a very slow swagger the day after a marathon. I know I can handle the problems life throws in my path because I’ve successfully completed races.

I love the anticipation of race week. Perhaps the best part of running for me is the rush of excitement that surges through my body each time I think about the big day. Because I’m tapering off a training cycle, race week involves very little running and my body is simply exploding with energy. All it takes is someone mentioning the race to send a literal shiver through my body. I get goose bumps on my arms, and the hair on the back of my neck bristles as I tell people about the race I’m about to take part in. It takes every ounce of will power I have to stand quietly at the starting line and not jump up and down screaming! The anticipation of race week is certainly the most energy charged part of running!

I’ve missed out on all of this recently. The only routine in my life has been: Work, sleep, repeat. My swagger is gone. I’ve noticed that I’m now walking with my head down, looking at my feet rather than with my chin up, challenging the world. The anticipation of race week has been replaced with the resentment of missing out. I’ve been asked dozens of times this week if I’m running in Fargo, and instead of exploding with excitement as I tell them “yes,” I’m hunching up and muttering “no.”

I came home last night from a stress filled work week feeling pretty low and sorry for myself. I turned on my computer, opened up “facebook,” and was greeted by a photo of my friend Jessica standing in front of the Fargo 1/2 Marathon sign. She has had a great training cycle, and it showed in her photo: She looked strong, but most of all her head was held high and she was beaming with confidence. I don’t know why, but the stress of the week instantly melted away and I smiled. I started scrolling down and saw similar photos of all my other Red River Runner friends in Fargo and it felt like I was there too. I know it’s strange, but I actually felt the anticipation of race week, and I was excited; not for myself this time, but for my friends who were clearly enjoying the fruits of their hard training.

And THAT is yet another reason I love running: The great group of people I’ve come to know through this shared passion for a sport. I feel blessed this Fargo Marathon Saturday for all my great friends who are down there running, and am thankful that I can share in their training, their swagger, and now in their anticipation as well. Good luck today!

I love running!

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I’m On My Way!

Posted on April 29, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I could have remained at work into the evening, but everything that was extremely pressing was done by five, so I called it a day after only 8 extremely busy hours. I may pay for the luxury tomorrow by having a long day, but I needed a run more than anything, so that’s what I worked towards all day. When I walked out the door, the sky looked like it could rain, but the temperature was so mild I decided to risk getting wet and started thinking of some of my favorite outdoor short routes to take on.

I’ve been wearing my glasses for a week straight because the rat dander at work irritates my contact lens when I’m around it for more than an hour or two, and I’ve practically been living with the rats recently. Tonight, I came home, washed up, and popped in my contacts, because that’s the way I’m the most comfortable running. I needed a little extra motivation, so I dug out my finisher shirt from last fall’s Twin Cities Marathon, and threw it on over a pair of shorts. I have finished a marathon or two in my time, and tonight it just seemed important to shout it out to everyone that saw me.

My favorite short route is along Riverside Park, but since part of the area is closed due to high water, I decided to stay away from the Greenway, and instead run around the English Coulee area of UND. It was a nice evening for a run, and I got in a little over five miles. Nothing fast, and nothing long but it was a run none the less, and I felt pretty good about just breaking the ice and getting back onto the streets.

Every journey of a million miles begins with the first step, and I’m going to think that tonight’s run was the first step towards the Boston Marathon. I may have a million miles to go, but now that I’ve taken the first step, I’m on my way!

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Clawing My Way Back

Posted on April 28, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I am reminded of a popular, common phrase of my younger years that was used when things were going poorly: “Life sucks, and then you die.” The “Hee-Haw” show of my childhood repeated the lyrics “Gloom, despair, and agony on me… If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all!” It would appear that going through difficult times is a universal part of the human condition and that we must learn to get beyond them if we are to be happy.

Everything was going great: I was eating well, I was exercising daily, and I felt that I was about in the best shape of my life. My waist was smaller than in high school. My running times were the best ever. I felt great. Then the wheels came off the Lindlauf express…

I won’t bore you with the details, but I caught a cold, tried to return to work too early, and it turned into pneumonia. I gave up on training for two weeks. I returned to work in the meantime, but what had been busy, had turned into crazy during my absence. I tried a few small workouts, but the illness had taken a lot from me, and I struggled. Then, crazy at work turned into maniacal. My normal 8 hour work days turned into 12. I didn’t have time to work out or prepare healthy meals. Then, last week, maniacal at work turned into something even crazier (I’m all out of descriptions at this point). Working out and living healthy seem like something from another lifetime. “Life sucks!”

I’m in a dark place right now, trying to see a light, any light, at the end of this tunnel I’m currently journeying through. I posted a message of frustration this week on “Face Book” and received an avalanche of encouragement from my running friends. I know I’m not finished running, but it’s easy to start feeling sorry for myself; thinking the happy, healthy life I once enjoyed was gone for good. I know my problems pale in comparison to what some deal with, but the burdens I’m carrying seem to be more than I can handle at times. I’m also a bit overly dramatic in case you haven’t noticed.

The very heart of the problem appears to be that I have no time for my normal stress coping mechanisms; what I like to refer to as my three “R’s”: Running, writing and reading. This weekend, I decided to start making some time for these important components of my life, and although I wasn’t overly successful, I do feel a little better tonight. At this point, I have to look at life as a “one day at a time” improvement, and be happy with whatever I can get.

I had to work for about four hours Saturday, but decided to have a nice relaxing breakfast before I went, reading the paper and enjoying some coffee. That went fine until I discovered that Mitzie had escaped from our yard. When I opened the gate to go looking for her, Maxie pushed past me and took off on a dead run. I quickly found Mitzie, but Maxie eluded me for a half hour while I drove around the neighborhood, a foul stream of language filling the cab of my truck.

When I finished work, I came home, ate lunch and decided to take a nap. When I woke, the warmer temperatures invited me to go running, but I decided to add some lumber to our fence instead; making escape for Mitzie a little more difficult in the future. I pulled on my “2010 Bismarck Marathon” finisher shirt, an item that had been laying in a pile of slightly sweaty running clothes since my last workout a couple of weeks ago and headed outside. I soon realized that “slightly sweaty” could turn into “really stinky” when piled up by a radiator for a few weeks. I eventually wore the shirt to “Hugo’s” to pick groceries for dinner, and although I didn’t actually run this week, I did look and smell like a runner, and in some strange way it lifted my spirits a bit.

Today I worked again, napped again, and then went to a birthday party for my nephew Kris. I wasn’t up to a run after three pieces of delicious apple pie (thanks Beckie) so I’m writing instead this evening, and it’s also lifting my spirits a bit.

Maybe tomorrow will be the day I put back on my Beast shoes and hit the pavement for a few miles. Maybe it will be Tuesday. Maybe it will be later in the week, or the week after that, but it will happen. I know it will! I’ve completed five marathons, and it’s going to take more than pneumonia and 60 hour work weeks to keep this guy from eventually training for and running in number six! When the going gets rough, a marathon runner knows they still have many miles to go, so they buckle down and get tougher. I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again. You can mark my words!

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Boston: Not for the Faint of Heart!

Posted on April 14, 2013 by jimlindlauf

My friend Stacy once told me “running marathons isn’t for the faint of heart.” First of all, you need to achieve a level of fitness far above that of the average American in order to even begin training. Then, for the next four months, you train almost every day, getting in your workouts whenever the rest of your life allows them to occur. If you make it this far without injury, you have probably logged near 1,000 miles, and are now ready to try a marathon. In order to complete a race of 26.2 miles, a runner has to then successfully battle course conditions, weather, dehydration, fatigue, chaffing, and calorie deprivation to even have a chance of finishing. Yes Stacy, running marathons isn’t for the faint of heart.

The Boston Marathon is arguably the most prestigious marathon in the world. Besides being one of the first, it is also one of the very few which has implemented qualifying criteria. In order to even be allowed to enter the Boston Marathon, a runner has to complete another sanctioned marathon in a certain amount of time which varies based on a runner’s sex and age. These qualifying times are difficult and designed to insure that only the absolute best marathon finishers in the world are eligible to enter the Boston Marathon.

Finishing a marathon is hard enough; try to imagine the extra pressure placed on a runner to also finish in a certain amount of time. While this is not overly difficult for truly elite runners, it does provide an enormous challenge for most of the rest of us. That is why when someone I know enters the Boston Marathon, I feel it appropriate to acknowledge the great effort they have already put forward just to be taking part in the prestigious race. Four of my strong hearted friends, Rachel, Holly, Anne-Marie, and Martin, are all currently in Boston, ready to run in tomorrow’s marathon, so let me tell you just a little about each of them.

Rachel


I’ve known Rachel for only a relatively short amount of time, but she appears extremely dedicated to her sport. This will be her second appearance at the Boston Marathon and she hopes to improve on last year’s Boston performance which she described as a “Death march in the heat!”

Holly

I’ve known Holly just a little longer than Rachel, but have had the opportunity to share some long runs with her and Jessica last summer as we all got ready for the Twin Cities Marathon. This is Holly’s first Boston Marathon, and there are two things I want you to know about this dedicated runner: 1) Once she starts running, she doesn’t like to stop. When Jessica and I would stop at a convenience store to purchase beverages and eat our energy packs, Holly would continue running circle around the parking lot until we finished. 2) I completed the 2012 Twin Cities Marathon in less time than Holly and remind her of it every chance I get!

Anne-Marie

I’ve known Anne-Marie the longest, and she has become perhaps the most frequent participant in our Red River Runner’s group runs. This Irish born teacher truly enjoys chatting with whoever she’s running with: It doesn’t matter if you are the slowest or the fastest; Anne-Marie makes everyone feel welcome. I was in Fargo in 2011 running my third marathon the same day Anne-Marie was running her first, and she gave me a huge fist pump of encouragement as we passed each other in a two way area. I saw her extreme disappointment later that day however, as she related how she had injured a tendon in her knee towards the end of the race and had to hobble across the finish line. Anne-Marie did return to Fargo the next year to seek vengeance, and she ultimately qualified for her first Boston Marathon on the same streets which had earlier crushed her!

Holly & Anne-Marie Boarding for Boston

Me & Martin

Martin has his PhD in exercise science and acts as the “Trainer” for Red River Runners in addition to teaching at the University of North Dakota. This Canadian born athlete is the epitome of overall fitness as he excels in a variety of different sports. While I often accuse Martin of causing Red River Runners much undue pain and hardship, he has actually helped many of us reach higher levels of performance when we’ve followed his detailed training plans. Martin has taken me aside on several occasions when I’ve felt defeated, and delivered just the right mixture of encouragement and advice to get me past the disappointment, and thinking instead about my next race. I’ll forever owe Martin a debt of gratitude for his special trip to Minneapolis last October when he came to run the Twin Cities Marathon at my side to ensure I finally broke the 4 hour time barrier. Martin has practiced what he preaches, and by following his own training plan, says he’s in the best shape of his life. Even though the Boston course is extremely difficult, I expect this will be Martin’s best marathon yet; that’s just the way he approaches these things.

I wish all four of you a great race tomorrow! You’ve earned the right to be there, so enjoy the environment and make yourself some great memories! Be sure to bring back your tales of success to share with those of us yet to qualify!

Red River Runners @ Twin Cities Marathon

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Trying to Return to Normal

Posted on April 7, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I’ve been ill with a cold that eventually led to pneumonia. It was amazing how battling through an infection drained me of all energy. I was a man accustomed to running 20-50 miles a week, some of it at a very quick pace, but when sick, I became tired walking up or down the stairs in our house. The headache, fever, cough, stuffed up head, and lack of sleep all teamed up to make this normally healthy guy feel downright miserable. I didn’t go to work, I didn’t work out, I didn’t write, I didn’t read, and I didn’t cook; most of the things that are a part of my daily life. My days alternated between lying in bed and sitting in a recliner with my laptop. The world was going on without me, which in some strange way both comforted me and brought me down.

I eventually saw my doctor who said I had pneumonia in my left lung. He started me on “Augmentin,” after instructing his student nurse to give me an injection of a fast acting antibiotic in my butt. The student, with the assistance of her now present instructor, used her finger to trace several imaginary lines across my rear to determine the proper location for the needle, an uncomfortable ordeal which seemed to last forever while my pants were lowered. The only pleasant part of the visit was when the student nurse took my blood pressure three times upon arrival because she hadn’t ever read one as low as 86/50. I replied yes to her question regarding whether this was normal for me, to which she responded “I’ve read that extremely fit athletes can have blood pressure this low, but this is the first time I’ve seen it.”

On Monday, I began reading a book. On Tuesday, I returned to work. On Wednesday, I prepared dinner. On Saturday, I ran four miles. Today is Sunday and since I’m writing, I guess all things are finally back to normal. It will undoubtedly be longer still until my workouts are back to the intensity they were before I got sick, but that too will be back to normal in the near future. It’s nice to once again be taking an active role participating in the world around me.

There are also so many things that have occurred while I was sick, and I want to write about them all, but that’s not going to happen. My mind is always racing, but it takes energy for me to focus my thoughts onto one narrow topic, and I simply don’t have enough strength at the moment to do justice to all I want to say. There are North Dakota’s new laws regarding abortion. There is the question of gay marriage that is currently before the United States Supreme Court. There is the debate over the role of firearms in our society that seems to continue returning with more vehemence each time there is a mass murder in our land. I have friends running in the Boston Marathon in 8 days. Our new puppy Mitzie was in to see the vet last week. Carl has had a lot of activity with Tae Kwon Do and his social life recently, as well as making the “A” honor role during the last quarter. Steve Wagner, a fellow marathon runner and blogger, is the new Editor of the “Grand Forks Herald.” The Human Nutrition Research Center, where I work, now has the capability to measure the oxygen usage and carbon dioxide given off by mice while exercising.

Well, that’s enough writing for today: It’s time to let my brain rest while I give my body a little workout. It’s great to finally be feeling better again!

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25 Years at The University of North Dakota

Posted on March 17, 2013 by jimlindlauf

The University of North Dakota holds a formal banquet each year, called “Founders Day,” at which it recognizes faculty and staff for an assortment of reasons. There are competitive awards for faculty excellence as well as a brief acknowledgement of anyone who is retiring from or has served the university for 25 years.

I will reach my 25 year anniversary in June, during the current academic year, so I received an invitation to this year’s festivities. In November, I was contacted by Brenda Haugen, who conducted an interview, then wrote up a brief history which was printed in the program. In January, Jackie Lorentz scheduled a photography session with me, and used the formal portrait for the program as well.

On February 28th, the University held its Founders Day banquet. Sue and I were treated to a prime rib dinner and I was invited on stage to receive a handshake from Dr. Robert Kelley, the President of the University. It was a fun evening and the University of North Dakota did a great job of making me feel appreciated and special!

Interview with James Lindlauf
Not long after graduating from North Dakota State University in Fargo with a degree in Animal Nutrition, Jim Lindlauf found a good fit in a new job created at the Human Nutrition Research Center at the University of North Dakota.

“I was the animal diet coordinator,” he explained. “It was a brand new position.”

That was nearly 25 years ago, in the summer of 1988. At that time, the lab prepared hundreds of diets a year. Lindlauf coordinated the diet preparation as well as the analysis and quality control.

“It fit perfectly into what I was looking at doing,” he said.

A native of Velva, N.D., Lindlauf has really found his niche at the nutrition lab. “I really like the job,” he said.

That job stayed pretty much unchanged for about 20 years. Then his boss, the woman who had hired him all those years ago, Denice Schafer, became ill and passed away. Lindlauf was able to help step in and take over her responsibilities. He’s now the animal facility manager.

Lindlauf works mostly with rats and mice. For the first 20 years of his career, the lab’s focus was trace mineral research.

“We were the world leader in iron, zinc, copper and stuff like that” he said. “Then, during the Bush administration, there wasn’t a need for that anymore, so they were going to close us down. Then our senators got involved and got our focus changed to obesity research. There is a large need for that now with the American population as it is, so that has been our focus for the last few years. So now instead of making our rats and mice trace mineral deficient, we’re making them obese.”

Lindlauf has seen many other changes at the nutrition lab through the years. The biggest perhaps, is in technology. Today there are better computers, wirelessly connected, and more advanced tools. Among those tools is a new MRI that tells researchers an animal’s grams of fat and grams of lean body mass. Twenty years ago, an animal would have to be killed so researchers could determine those measurements. Now, with the MRI machine, they can take the measurements noninvasively and the animal can continue on in the experiment.

Lindlauf said the lab has about 10 experiments going on at any one time. He makes sure the animals are cared for, that their diets are prepared and fed to them, and that all the necessary data is collected – everything from the animal’s weight to how much it eats. For his staff of three, Lindlauf is the contact person between his people and the scientists. The scientists hand him a protocol for an animal experiment, and he makes sure the experiment gets done the way the scientists want it done and then presents them with all the data. “So it’s kind of a full-service department,” Lindlauf said.

And that service has been rewarded. Lindlauf worked closely with Dr. Phil Reeves to develop a diet for rodents. Their work was published by the American Institute of Nutrition in 1993, and continues to be the standard in the industry. In fact, their work is the most cited research paper in all of nutrition.

“I like to think I had a big role in it,” Lindlauf said. That was a real big achievement for our center.

Outside of work, Lindlauf enjoys writing, running, and Bison football. He likes writing about his childhood and current life, particularly on his blog “Father Knows Last.” He’s also been running for about 5 years. He ran his fifth marathon last fall. A member of the Red River Runners Club, Lindlauf said he particularly enjoys working with beginners. For a number of years he also taught Sunday School.

Lindlauf enjoys spending time with his family. His wife of 27 years, Sue, works at the Grand Forks Herald. Their son, Carl, turned 17 on New Year’s Day and is a junior at Central High School.

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Another Type of “Love” Song

Posted on March 10, 2013 by jimlindlauf

Sometimes when I listen to music while I run, I simply draw on the raw energy that’s present in a lot of rock ‘n roll. There’re nothing like AC/DC’s high voltage power chords to fuel a fast paced tempo run! A lot of my running, however, is at a slower pace for a longer period of time, and while the energy of rock ‘n roll is always welcome, my mind has a lot more time to wander when I’m logging in dozens of miles each week at “base pace.” It never ceased to amaze me which old memories will be triggered by music from my past. While my feet are pounding along a street in Grand Forks, my head is often far away, enjoying its own stroll down “memory lane.”

This week my i-pod has been in the “L” section of my play list. On Thursday, almost all of the selections began with the word “Love” and the memories they conjured up were as varied as the artists that performed them. Def Leppard’s “Love Bites,” Nazareth’s “Love Hurts,” Rick Springfield’s “Love is Alright Tonight,” Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield,” and Loverboy’s “Loving Every Minute of It” all provided a welcome escape from the Wellness Center’s track to a different time and place.

“Love Bites” always makes me think of Sue, but not because I harbor unpleasant memories of our time together. We instead have a little ongoing joke between us that takes this song about love gone bad and turns it into one about eating. The chorus of the song includes two phrases “…love dies” and “… love bleeds,” but we prefer to use our alternative lyrics “… love dines” and “…love feeds.” Whenever we hear the song, Sue will raise a knowing eyebrow, and nod her head slightly in agreement as she repeats the words ”love dines” and “love feeds.”

“Love Hurts” warped me back to seventh grade and my first school dance. Of course, at the time I thought the song’s title was “Love Her,” but even if I would have known the song was really about having your heart broken, it wouldn’t have changed a thing about the magic of that evening. “Love Hurts” always takes me back to that old school gymnasium and the one dance I shared with an older, eighth grade girl named Patty.

“Love is Alright Tonight” sends me back to 1985 when I was working with my friend Cory. Two of the many things I remember about Cory were that he loved heavy metal music and that he was extremely proud of his Norwegian heritage. He detested what he called “bubble gum pop music” a genre that included everything performed by Rick Springfield. He did, however, become acquainted with one of Sue’s cousins, a blonde Norwegian named Judy at our wedding, and eventually took her to the Rick Springfield concert in Fargo that year. Every time I hear “Love is Alright Tonight,” I am reminded of how I gave poor Cory a rough time for months about selling out his heavy metal ideals for the sake of love!

“Love is a Battlefield” returned me to early 1986, a period in which I worked at the Fargo Target store as a cart attendant. One of my duties each day was to arrive an hour before the store opened to clean the front windows and to stock each of the checkout lanes with paper bags. The night crew, which was still working when I arrived, always had one of the display stereos in the “camera and sound” department turned way up so it could be heard throughout the store. It was during one of these early mornings that I heard the Pat Benatar classic for the first time.

“Loving Every Minute of It” reminds me of May 2011 and the weeks leading up to that year’s Fargo Marathon. It was my third marathon, but really the first one in which I felt strong and positive after completing an 18 week training plan. The Loverboy lilt just seemed to describe how I was feeling at the time so perfectly that it floated around in my head for days after it appeared on my i-pod’s play list.

Five different songs, whose titles all begin with word “love,” and five completely different memories conjured up by each individual melody. Aren’t love songs great?!

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At the Starting Line Again!

Posted on March 3, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I’ve just completed two months of what my trainer Martin calls “base building.” This was a period of time in which I worked out every day, getting stronger, without worrying about endurance. I scheduled four days each week of running with almost all distances shorter than 8 miles. One day each week I did the cursed “hill” workouts in which I got to run along on a treadmill at a nice slow pace, then turn the speed and incline WAY up, over and over again, for a short period of time, to simulate sprinting up a steep hill. Another of the weekly running days had me going around the track at a decent pace, with 2.5 of every 8 laps “sprinkled in” at a WAY quicker speed. While I loathed the “hill” workouts, I actually came to look forward to the “sprinkles!”

On the other three days a week, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, I rode a stationary bike for 30-60 minutes to get in a little cardio workout without impacting my almost 50 year old joints. On Wednesday and Sunday, I included some strength training which consisted of pushups, incline sit ups, core twists while holding a weight, lunges, and two different leg lifts which strengthen the hips and butt.

The final component of my base building plan was careful attention to my diet, with emphasis on weight loss. The healthy body weight for a six foot man with a large frame is 168-192, and one with a medium frame, such as I have is 160-174. While I consider myself healthy, and have completed 5 marathons over the last 3 three years, my weight has hovered in the 190-195 range. If I want to complete a marathon in less than 3 ½ hours, and qualify for the Boston Marathon, one of my goals has to be weight loss! I will likely appear too thin by society’s current overweight standards, but I will be lean, muscular and most importantly, I will be light and fast!

Looking back, over the last two months, I have to consider my base building phase a success. I’ve lost about 10 pounds, and am now hovering in the 180-185 range, the weight I was in high school. By increasing both the variety and number of repetitions of my strength training, I now feel stronger than I’ve been at any time since my college years. And best of all; the “hill” and “sprinkle” workouts have me running faster than I have at any point in my life (for non sprint distances).

Starting tomorrow, I officially begin training for “Grandma’s Marathon” on June 22. I get to trade “hills” and “sprinkles” for “mile repeats” and “progression runs:” Sounds fun doesn’t it! I don’t know what the training cycle will hold in store for me, but right now I’m feeling strong and healthy; maybe as good as at any point in my life! Although I believe qualifying for the Boston Marathon may take another year of training, I sense many good things are on the horizon for 2013 as I attempt to inch ever closer to that elusive “Super Bowl” of running. Come along for the ride, won’t you?

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Silver Linings Playbook

Posted on February 24, 2013 by jimlindlauf

I seem to have a habit of watching “Oscar” winning movies after they win all their awards. I have been hearing so many positive things about “Silver Linings Playbook” that I really hoped to see it before “Oscar” night, and I made it by one day: I talked Sue into going last night. We both enjoyed the show, although for perhaps slightly different reasons, making it a fun date night together.

I absolutely adore Jennifer Lawrence, and her performance as “Tiffany” in “Playbook” was extraordinary. Tiffany is a young woman who, while in no way responsible for the death of her husband, carries a burden of guilt that is destroying her life. Her struggle to deal with the loss has taken her down self destructive paths that, while filling the viewer with empathy also causes one to chuckle over the brutally honest description she shares of these paths. Tiffany is struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in her life, but we become all too aware how precariously close she remains to the dark abyss of grief that threatens to reclaim her.

Bradley Cooper plays “Pat,” a man who has also taken a stroll over the line of sanity when he assaulted a man he found in the shower with his wife. Pat is sentenced to eight months in a mental health facility, and the movie begins with him being released into his mother’s custody. It rapidly becomes clear that Pat is still struggling unsuccessfully with the fallout of his failed marriage, and in all likelihood will soon end up back in the facility. He is under the delusion that he can reconcile with his wife if he loses weight and gains a better understanding of her career as an English teacher.

When the two meet, we initially know of Pat’s situation, but it soon becomes obvious that Tiffany’s problems rival his own. They strike up a strange friendship that is both interesting and amusing to the moviegoer. The plot centers on Pat and Tiffany trying to find something good in the world to grasp hold of: The silver linings in their dark clouds of despair.

As the movie wound down, I honestly didn’t know how it would end. There were so many characters teetering on the edge of sanity that I suspected one or more would lose the battle, especially Pat’s father, played by Robert De Niro. I won’t play spoiler and give up how the story ends, but there were several twists in the final 15 minutes that I didn’t see coming, making it very entertaining. Sue said she also enjoyed the movie, especially the scenes involving dancing.

I strongly recommend the movie “Silver Linings Playbook.” Who knows: If it wins “Best Picture” at tonight’s Academy Awards, it will be the first in a long time that I actually saw before it won! (even if it’s only the day before)

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Carl Visits the UND Wellness Center

Posted on February 18, 2013 by jimlindlauf

President’s day is a holiday for me, but instead of being at home alone like I usually am, Carl was with me because school was canceled due to a winter storm. Of course nothing energizes teens, and adults too for that matter, like an unplanned day off from school or work, so both of us were up quite early in order to get as much as possible out of our free day. We both started making plans to get in a workout somehow, although we both understood the weather would present some major challenges to overcome in the process.

Carl wanted to walk the 3 blocks to the YMCA, where he works out, but when I called to see if they were open during this storm, the person who answered said they were open at the moment, but would likely be closing in the next 15 minutes. I was considering driving to the UND Wellness Center, where I work out, because the roads in our neighborhood didn’t look nearly bad enough to stop my 4 wheel drive truck. Upon calling there, the person who answered said “yes, they were open” and better yet, they had no plans to close. On a whim, I asked what their policy was for bringing in visitors, and they said Carl could accompany me for the low cost of $5.00. Carl was ecstatic about a chance to see the inside of the Wellness Center, where his Dad spends countless hours running in circles around the track, so we bundled up and headed out.

We arrived easily enough and parked in the snow filled parking lot with a few other scattered cars. As we were walking towards the only entrance, the wind deafening in our ears, I screamed through the fury “welcome to UND!” Carl had to fill out a form and sign a waiver, and then we climbed the grand, 10 foot wide, carved stone, curved staircase to the second floor cardio deck. We put our wraps into day lockers and then walked around on the track, checking out all the facility had to offer. I then showed Carl around the downstairs weight area before turning him loose to get started on his upper body workout.

I went back up to the track, did my stretches, put on my i-pod, and then started around the eighth mile track which I planned on circling 48 times to get in 6 miles! When I ran through the area overlooking the massive weight room I saw Carl a few times lifting weights. During other times, our eyes met and we gave each other a little grin and a nod of acknowledgement.

Unfortunately, the Wellness Center decided to close at 10:30 due to the storm, so Carl didn’t get in his entire workout, and I only got around the track 29 times for a total of 3.63 miles. We got back into our coats and sweat pants, still warm from our abruptly ended workouts, and headed out into the North Dakota blizzard for the short drive home.

The time at the Wellness Center was short, and we didn’t spend much of it directly together, but it was a shared experience nonetheless, something that has been occurring more frequently in recent months. It was another chance for me to spend time with Carl, and once again I found myself enjoying it in ways I hadn’t expected. I again sensed my role as father is changing ever so slightly, and our interactions are becoming a little more man to man. A part of me is sad over losing my little boy, but a larger part is celebrating the emergence of fine young man into this world: One I am proud to call my son!

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