The Road to 40 Day 343/365: The Second Dad-thering

For the second time in Vino’s football training tenure, the dads planned a get-together outside the field.

Most of us usually see each other when kids are training, so we do talk sometimes. However, one of the dads said it would be nice if we were in a different environment, so we planned on meeting at a bar.

Our first gathering was before the December holidays, where we had a huge turnout of six dads. It was a good chance to get to know each other and just wind down.

Knowing I’d be going out to drink, I figured I should go for a short run during training. Vino went with the under-10 kids this day, so I was curious to watch how he’s going to do. I wanted to run around the court so that I’d be close by to see him, but it just feels monotonous going in circles on such a small space.

I went out of the school again, but didn’t run as long as I did the last time around. It was a good burn, though.

I did keep running while I was in Korea, but I feel like my body is adjusting again because the past couple of runs have felt a bit heavy. I’m trying to run at a better pace, and I think I’ll try to run longer and see if I could do 10 kilometers already over the next couple of weeks.

I got back in time to see Vino playing in a scrimmage. Playing with the bigger kids allowed him to play in a more organized game with a lot more space, and more kids who know where they should be.

They played with one girl, and while they were a bit phyiscal with each other, they very evidently go easy when the girl has the ball. I didn’t see coach give them any specific instructions, so it’s nice to see them follow this seemingly unwritten rule.

After training, I met with a couple of dads who already begged off from the dad-thering and caught up with them for a bit. One of them was going to run a half marathon on Sunday, while the other one is coming off ankle surgery.

I took Vino home and got on a bus to the venue. The guys were there already, so I caught up with their conversation.

We talked about life and things going on around us. We’re like old friends but new friends in such a way that we’re still learning about each other but we know a little bit of each other already so we know what kinds of topics we can all relate to.

The nice thing about drinking out with dads is that they don’t go all-out. It’s just enough to enjoy the company of people and leave sober enough to go home well. We had one photo because we were too busy talking the whole time and ignoring our phones for the most part. We adjourned around 10:30pm, a little after both of them got personal calls.

We’re planning to do this maybe at least once every quarter. Maybe later on, we could plan something where we can bring the kids and they can have their own fun outside training.