“There’s nothing surer
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer
In the meantime, in between time
Ain’t we got fun?”
“Ain’t We Got Fun?” — Arthur West

Originally recorded in 1920 for vaudeville tours, “Ain’t We Got Fun?” was written by Richard A. Whiting and sang by West on the vaudeville circuit, making minimal inroads until its mention in the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel The Great Gatsby, which was originally released in 1925.

Multiple recordings were made before recordings featuring Bob Hope (1949), Doris Day (1953), Peggy Lee (1959), and Bing Crosby (1960) were all released within a dozen years, each of which garnered different responses.

Recently, an excellent movie came out on Disney titled The Young Woman and the Sea.

While the timing with the real-life character’s childhood is inaccurate, the use of the song as a “timing mechanism” for the real-life Trudy Ederle’s swim across the English Channel is reportedly accurate.

After my daughters and I watched the movie, we discussed relating the timing mechanism to our own running paces as we ran the Andy’s Road Race.

Oh, the path to that Saturday morning run...

I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes in 2015, and I immediately pursued exercise and dropped a significant amount of weight.

We began our journey as foster parents in the summer of 2016, and with job changes and some of the challenges that came along with those early years in our foster-to-adopt journey, I had gained back some of the weight.

This past Easter, I stepped on the scale and wasn’t happy with what I saw.

While spending time with family that day, my daughter casually commented that she wanted to run Andy’s again, after running it in 2023. Only this time, she wanted me to run with her.

That was the motivation that I needed to get my act in gear. I began tracking my eating and after doing that for a few weeks, I began using an app on my phone called “Couch to 5K” that plotted out workouts to prepare to run a race.

Throughout the summer, I continued running multiple times per week to get myself in shape, even jogging in the thin air of the Black Hills during a family vacation.

That’s a big deal for a guy who really dislikes distance running, and always has, even when I was an athlete in my younger years.

Sprints? Sure.

Long runs? I think there’s a line in the Bill of Rights about cruel and unusual punishment...

Of course, I still have a job to do, and that included taking photographs at the first Friday of high school football.

Being the very self-aware man that I am, I decided to get too focused on getting a perfect picture on the sideline and didn’t move out of the way as a play headed right at me, ending up getting knocked over on the sideline.

While I avoided any major injury, a very sore hip a week before my run meant any goals for time that I might have had went out the window.
Instead, on a perfect morning for a run, I took off and began the run, walking when my hip would bark. I was in my final mile when my wife, having already finished, joined me to walk with me to keep me going.

A high school classmate was present and reminded me that many people did not even start the race, and I had finished, putting me in a good place.

In the end, I’ve dropped 40 pounds in six months and after my run, I’ve focused on getting back into the weight room, a workout I actually enjoy!

More than anything, my family and I were able to make a memory of doing something active together. First place or last place, that’s a dad victory.

The Chase family is all smiles after completing Andy's Road Race