The Morning Stretch #13 – Ticket to Paradise

Since my wife and I are going to win the $540 million dollar Mega-Millions lottery tonight, it is possible that this will be my last post for a while. After all, I’ll be spending  a lot of time talking to lawyers, accountants and long-lost relatives.

Therefore let the last stretch be an easy one … fantasize about what you would have done with the money if you’d won. (My stretch, on the other hand, will be realistic planning.)

This evening, my wife and I—after our winning numbers have been drawn—will probably scream our selves hoarse … and then cry ourselves dry. After that’s out of the way, we’ll talk about whether to take the $540 mil as a lump sum ( about $359 million before taxes ) or settle for almost $21 million a year for the next 26 years. It’s likely we’ll take the lump sum so we can find out what it’s like to burn through that much money in record time, like many past winners have done.

Once that’s done, we’ll work on the obligatory list of all the causes and charities we’ll want to fund. I’m fifty-five and forgetful already, so the Alzheimer’s Association will probably get a big chunk.

Then, until dawn the next morning—since there is no way I’m sleeping tonight—I’ll be planning the Ultimate Writers and Runners Retreat.

Where I'll be heading after I hit the lottery tonight.

First, I’ll search the internet for a small piece of land in the Rocky Mountain region, something in the 50,000 – 500,000 acre range. This one’s a bit small and it’s in Canada, but it gives you the general idea.

After I’ve found the right property, I’ll start planning the loops of running and biking trails that will run through the property. They’ll be from a few miles up to ultramarathon length … and all within the borders of my runner’s retreat. We’ll have a guest house big enough to fit thirty or forty of our closest running friends; we don’t actually have that many close friends, but I’m sure that will change. And I’m figuring on putting a few small cabins around the most picturesque locations where inspired writing will take place.

I’ll need a private air strip so I can fly in my grandkids (yes, mom and dad, you can come, too), as well as the runners and writers I’ll invite. On occasion, my wife and I might use the jet to visit all the most beautiful, remote places in the world and see how they compare to the paradise that sprang from our lottery winnings.

That’s all the planning I can do right now. Figuring how to spend my winnings is going to take so much time I better use the rest of the day to clear my schedule.

Share the luck

I feel like an incredibly lucky man today and I want to share that luck with you. No matter what you are doing, I hope it gives you that little extra you need. I’m fifty-five and now have five healthy grandchildren, four great kids who are smart, healthy, intelligent and successful, and a beautiful wife who I love (and she even loves me back!)

I am not a superstitious man. I may believe in some form of symmetry and synchronicity in life, but not in any formal or concrete way. For the most part, I kind of just take life as it comes. The events I am about to relate might seem interesting to some and eerie to others, but I swear on my honor as a grandfather that they are true.

According to the official paperwork, my newest grandson, Chaitan, was born at 3:03 a.m. today, November 4, 2011. Chaitan (seven letters) weighed exactly seven pounds. This morning, after my wife and I had returned to the hotel to get a few hours sleep, I was considering running 3.03 miles in honor of Chaitan. Instead, we checked out, went back to the hospital and spent some more time with Carrie, Sid and our new grandson.

On the way out of town, we stopped to get some lottery tickets. We often will get a couple when we are in Colorado, you know, just in case good fortune chose that day to smile on us. My tongue-in-cheek belief in synchronicity had me planning to buy three MegaMillions, three Powerball and three Matchplay (you can pick three numbers) tickets. I told the clerk that I wanted quick-pick (meaning I did NOT pick the numbers) and she went to the machine and started punching buttons. The humming and pecking started… and then hiccupped and came to a halt. She opened up the machine and pulled some of the ticket paper out and ripped the end off.

When she came back to me, she handed me one piece of paper with my three quick-pick MegaMillions numbers and said “Sorry, the machine ran out of paper so I can’t sell you the others.” My three numbers were on the paper, marked A, B, and C. On the ‘A’ line, the MegaBall number was 30 and the first number was 3… 30 3, 3:03. I thought, “Interesting maybe, but, you know… big deal.” On the ‘C’ line, the last number was 55, the first number… 5. Fifty-five years old, five grandchildren. Interesting.

We got home before noon and I started editing pictures and getting them posted. The afternoon was turning nice and I wanted to get my run in, so I hurried. After I was done, I changed and headed out for my run. There was enough synchronicity with the 3:03, so I intended to go exactly seven miles now, in honor of Chaitan’s seven pounds. I was well on my way when I thought, “Dummy! You should have waited until 3:03 to start the run, that would have been cool.” I hadn’t looked at the time when I left, just started my Garmin and left. I truly thought it was maybe 1:30, 2:00 at the latest. I looked at my Garmin, I was running 9:00 minute pace and I had two miles to go before the turn around at 3.5 miles. I switched it to watch mode and the time was 2:45. I got goose bumps on my legs, and not because of the cool, stiff breeze. If I maintained that exact pace, I would reach the 3.5 mile mark at exactly 3:03.

You can bet I maintained. But I missed 3:03… by four seconds. 3:03.04. Today, November 4, was quite a day.