In sometime around 1998 or so, I spent a weekend in Rehoboth, Delaware with my church youth group, working on a house for habitat for humanity. After a long day of accidentally pulling down an entire tree rather than just the vines on it and hammering in nails to hold down roof tiles to later realize they were upside down, we got to explore the beach and boardwalk of the shore.

Call me old, but I remember the days before the internet, the iPhone, and modern computers. I was a do-it-your-selfer, building several computers from components, throwing together programs starting on a graphing calculator, moving to BASIC, and eventually learning to program. This aptitude gave me the ability to problem solve and focus on a singular, difficult task until complete, and I feel is responsible for my success in software development as a career.

36 hours in Chicago just isn’t enough. This city has so much to see and explore that it deserves a longer stay to fully experience it. If, however, you only have a weekend in the Windy City like I recently did while visiting for the marathon, you can get a pretty good sense of at least the famous landmarks and sights. Exploring the downtown, walking along the water, grabbing a deep dish pizza, perking up with some coffee, and familiarizing one self with the local craft beer scene hits the top of the Chicago checklist.

My grandfather recently passed away. After 88 years of life, his health quickly deteriorated and he left us. Though it wasn’t a surprise, it did happen fairly quickly. He was with a doubt the most at peace person I’ve seen, and was ready to go. Still, our boys went from having four great-parents still alive to only three. Though they’re only a year and a half old, I wanted to make sure they understood what had happened at some level, at that his influence lives through them.

Nothing tastes better after a good, hard run than an ice cold beer. There’s truth in all of those country songs. The only think that might taste better is several rounds of ice cold free beer, brewed less than 100 feet from the finish line. Even better still is pairing this with live music, a celebratory party atmosphere, and pretty good swag from the brewery. All of this and more greeted me at the end of the Dogfishhead brewery’s Dogfish Dash 8K in Delaware.

Portsmouth, NH probably isn’t the first place that comes to mind when talking about beaches. Sure, New England is known for seafood, particularly lobsters, but until we traveled there, I didn’t even realize New Hampshire touched the ocean. The small stretch of coastal New Hampshire packs a wallop though and is absolutely worth a visit. It’s not just Cape Cod that has picturesque New England seafood shacks, shanties, and fishermen galore.

Is it really worse to travel 12 hours in a car than 2 hours in a plane? After a horrible experience flying for the first time with our 15-month-old twins over the summer thanks to flight delays overnight, my wife and I decided to risk toddler tantrums in the car rather than in the air. Though the flight to Chicago from New Jersey is less than two hours and the drive over 12, we decided the trade-off was worth it.

The following is a guest post from Alan Langdon, fellow father of twins. Beyoncé, Ronaldo and Ross Kemp are all famous celebrities that have recently became twin parents. Becoming a parent to twins is an amazingly scary but exciting thing. Like the aforementioned celebs, we weren’t aware just how much the risk increases to the mother and babies throughout a twin pregnancy. Some of the risks include; Pregnancy induced hypertension otherwise know as high blood pressure during pregnancy, Vanishing Twin Syndrome, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) and Intrauterine Growth Restriction (IUGR)to name a few.

Amsterdam is a city best known for vices. Drugs, alcohol, and the Red Light District are the most iconic images most have of the Dutch city, but there is actually a surprising amount to do that’s more family friendly. With lovely architecture, a delightful beer scene, museums and attractions, and excellent restaurants, there’s a ton to see and do. I just like getting off of the streets before night falls and it gets weird.

Would you be willing to use a toilet in a Cosi that doesn’t flush after dozens of runners have used it just to make sure you can get to the starting line on time? Thanks to the Newport Half Marathon this year, I now know that I’m willing to make this kind of sacrifice for a good run. And it was totally worth it. Nearing the end of my marathon training schedule, I only decided to run the Newport Liberty Half Marathon after I won a free entry from Yelp.