The Bataan Death March Memorial Marathon

This one just made my list of favorites.

White Sands, New Mexico.

The morning started early at White Sands Missle Base.  We were instructed to be there by 4:30, and had a continental breakfast at the starting area.  By 5:15 I decided to walk the half-mile back to my car and rest for a bit before the 6:30 opening ceremonies.  

The ceremonies opened with the color guard and the National Anthem, as we prepared for the event ahead of us.  Much of the field was military, wearing full uniforms.  In the "Heavy Division" corral they were checking their packs, weighing to make sure they had the full 35 pounds in them.  I had switched to the light division to give my knees a break.  I'll try the pack next time.

We were told about the rigors suffered in WWII by those who were surrendered to the Japanese and marched for days, many dying along the way, some surviving only to be blown up in unmarked boats by our own unknowing forces.  Veterans of that march were with us, now old men who continue to keep that memory alive.  

An inspirational speech by Director of the Army Staff Lt. General David Huntoon was followed by a very solemn roll call of those Bataan survivors who have died just in the last year.    

The opening ceremonies ended with this, written by Frank Hewlett in 1942:

"The Battling Bastards of Bataan, 
No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam, 
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces, 
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces, 
And nobody gives a damn!"

Then came the start.  They led veterans from Bataan to seats in the start corral, where they would greet us as we moved to the start line.  Then came a moment that had tears streaming down my face--soldiers who had lost limbs in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam were led out as a group to start the march with us.  Pride in those who sacrificed so much, sadness that we get into wars, or joy that because of those who served and lost so much make it possible for us to be free all came together at that point.

We started the marathon on the base, on pavement for about two miles, then we started off across the New Mexico desert.  Loose sand was kicked into the air by the 5300 people, and we were off on a dusty trek.  At an easy trot, I was passing a lot of people, and after about an hour I was out where the field was a little more spaced out.  Still, at over 4900 feet elevation in sand and dirt it was slow going.  

We continued on that surface through a flat section until about 8 miles in.  Then we turned onto a road, and before we saw the 9 mile mark had started up a long, gradual hill.  The hill would end just before we turned off onto sand/gravel near the 13 mile mark.  Now it was rolling a bit, but still generally uphill for another mile or so.  

Near 14 miles they were having a barbeque where you could buy hotdogs and hamburgers.  Next year I'm taking money with me.  I stopped there and sat on a cot to dump the sand out of my shoes for the second time, then continued, starting a generally downhill section that would tie back into the paved hill we had climbed, somewhere just before 19 miles.  I read the name on the back of a soldier's cap--Huntoon!  That sounded familiar.  I turned around and saw the three stars on his uniform--it was the general who had spoken at the opening ceremonies.  I stopped to shake his hand and ran along with him for a while.  We talked for around a mile, comparing marathons, talking about my son-in-law in the Guard, and working our way along the course. The downhill got a little steeper and I went on my way.  The wind started picking up even more--New Mexico is one of the windiest places in the country.  As I turned onto the pavement, I was cruising along nicely, and for a few minutes entertained the thought of finishing in under six hours.  Then at around 21 miles we made a right turn onto the gravel/sand and headed uphill for about half a mile.  We approached the top of the hill, thinking it would soon get better as we headed down.  Wrong.  As we turned off to the gradual downhill, we were in the loosest sand of the day.  Running and walking was about the same speed, with no push-off in the loose sand.  It was about a mile before it firmed up and we were back on the more firmly packed surface.  

The course was taking its toll, especially on the young soldiers wearing backpacks.  I encouraged several of them as I went by, frequently talking them into coming along with me for a while.  The wind picked up even more, sand blew into my eyes and I felt the grit in my teeth.  We headed straight into the wind as we approached the 25 mile mark, then on around a few more curves and approached the finish.  At the 26 mile mark I tapped a guy who was walking and said, "Come on--only two tenths to go."  At 26.1 we picked up another guy, then a woman, and four of us ran across the finish line.  

I learned a lot that day--the sacrifice that others made, the toughness of so many people, the importance of a leader to set an example.  And I came to a fuller appreciation of those who have sacrificed so that we can be free.

My finish time was 6:16, a good time for my condition and for that course.  The final finisher, wearing a 35-pound pack, came in around 14:44.  

Now 

Guadalupe Peak

Marathons, Mountains and Microbrews - Guadalupe Peak

Early morning Saturday I left my hotel in El Paso for the two-hour trip east to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, home of Guadalupe Peak (8749').  I have the whole day to get up the mountain, then up to White Sands to pick up my race packet for tomorrow's marathon.

I planned to stop at a convenience store for some drinks, snacks, and a bit of breakfast on the way, but as soon as I got out of town there was nothing to be found.  From the outskirts of El Paso to the Park, there is absolutely NOTHING open!  In fact, there is practically nothing anyway.  Just a long stretch of road through a beautiful desert.  As I drove east, the sky brightened and the mountains in the distance started to take shape.  I arrived at the visitor center around 7:20 and found that they wouldn't be open until 8:00.  Fortunately, I found a Coke machine and got three cans of liquid refreshment for the climb.  Back near the trailhead, I was able to pick up a bottle of PowerAid.  Between that and the packet of Jelly Belly Sport Beans I had with me, it would have to do for the calories I'd need to burn on the hike.

The trail was well marked.  However, only a few feet after starting on the trail there's a marker telling you to turn left for the Guadalupe Peak trail.  Which I missed.  I walked a little way, but it just didn't feel like the right direction.  Oh well, I'll give it a few minutes.  I scared up a couple of deer after a few minutes, and was just enjoying the walk on a beautiful, clear morning.  After about 15 minutes I decided it was definitely the wrong trail and turned around.  Good move.  Back nearly to the trailhead, I saw the small signpost, angled slightly in the direction I was coming from, telling me where the trail I should have been on was.  I tossed my fleece jacket back in the car, met a guy named Bob who was there to hike the mountain with a backpack, and we started up together.

Well, after a short but pleasant conversation, it was clear that in my unencumbered state I would be able to go a lot faster, we parted ways and I headed up the mountain, passing a few other climbers on the way up.  It's a constant series of switchbacks on a well-maintained trail, and the going was pretty easy.  I took my outer shirt off after a short time, but the cold wind frequently had me thinking of putting it back on.  Then I'd turn another corner or the sun would come out a little more, and I was warm enough again.  

It was hard to see exactly what the goal was, because Guadalupe is actually behind the mountain you start climbing up.  After about an hour and three-quarters I had worked my way around the back side and could see the peak.  I knew there was a campsite a mile from the peak, and wondered when I would find it.  That would give me an idea of how much longer it would be.   

In spots the signs on the trail alert people to "dismount and lead" if they're riding the trail, due to the cliffs.  Those are the places that I would stay close to the inside--the drop could be pretty drastic if one happened a little too close to the edge.  I started down a little section with some cliffs on the right, and a little bridge through the saddle between the mountains.  Then it was another series of switchbacks.  Still no campsite.

After the series of switchbacks, I came to a little gap, and approaching it couldn't see any trail beyond it.  Once I got there, it was a sharp right turn to the other face of the mountain.  I could see some railings, and wondered if that was the campsite.  Only a couple hundred more yards, I rounded a little bend just past those railings, and there was the high point marker, a silver pyramid place there in 1958 by American Airlines.  There were three other guys there who had recently summitted.   Turns out the campsite isn't very well marked (In fact, I couldn't find it on the way down either.) and I had completely missed it.  We took a few pictures and signed the logbook.  I headed back down.

The trail was well populated--I think I passed 6 or 8 groups of hikers who were on the way up.  More deer jumped out of the brush in several places on the trail.  Signs had warned of mountain lions, but fortunately (or unfortunately) I didn't see any of them.  My total time for the climb was just over 5 hours, including my little false-start.  It was a beautiful day in Texas.

My 30th state high point.  Only 20 more to go.  Five of them are the really hard ones, though.

On to White Sands, NM ....

Maybe I'll be a Bum All My Life

Here's a thought.  I keep thinking I'm going to write more, post more stuff, gain a large following of fans.  Then a month goes by and I haven't even made one freakin' blog entry.  Dammit!

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I'm reading A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.  Cool stuff.  Ten years ago, I knew the meaning of life was 42.  I came up with that without ever knowing who Douglas Adams was.  So I guess I'm just confirming a great cosmic truth or something.  Whatever.

Anyway, anyone who publishes a trilogy that contains five books has got to have a pretty good outlook on things, I suppose.

Cool quote:  “Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Lots of other good philosophy going on too.  You would think that Adams knew George Bush while writing a lot of the stuff.  He gives some pretty interesting insight into how governments work.

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I'm still waiting for Dan Houts to write that comment on my January 22nd blog entry.  (hint, hint)

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I started raking my yard yesterday.  I have a tolerance for such things at sometime around two hours.  So, if we have enough real nice days that coincide with my time schedule, I may get the whole thing done by around July or so.  No promises.

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My grandma is almost 95 years old.  She had a bit of a setback lately, but she's coming back strong.  I keep telling her that if she lives to be 100, the president will send her a birthday card. I think that would be pretty funny, given her somewhat old-school attitude toward people of other races and that it will probably still be President Obama when she turns 100 in 2014.  Maybe I could write to him and have him send one this year.  Hmm....

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Stimulus Packages--

I'm still not feeling very stimulated.  

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Maybe I'll start doing some podcasts.   Then instead of not doing blog entries, I could also not do podcasts.  

Life is still good.  Until later...

Marathon Don is Back! (Or at least coming back.)

It was the Last Chance for Boston Marathon--a 26 one-mile-loop course around an office park in Dublin, Ohio.  Some would call it boring.  That's only if you haven't run it.

The day was beautiful.  Around freezing, a little breezy, sunny at the start.  I was there to get in an inexpensive marathon for February to keep my marathon-a-month streak alive.  Chuck Engle was there--it's his hometown, and he couldn't find anything else to run that day, I guess.  I always love seeing this guy--he's fast, but not snobby about it.  Everyone likes him.  

The first loop is a little long--we make up the .2 miles at the beginning.  As I crossed the timing line for the first time, Chuck breezed by me, already two miles into the race.  I made it my goal to get at least half-way done before he finished.  

Halfway through mile 10, my best friend Paul met me and ran a mile with me.  He's working a big job in Ohio so he came over on Saturday night to hang out.  The three breweries we checked out the night before didn't seem to have any bad effect on my running, fortunately.  

After 11 miles I caught up with Lois Berkowicz.  She was running her 296th marathon that day.   I was a mile ahead of her at that point, and we ran together for the next 3 or 4 miles before she stopped for a bit.  We caught up with Larry Macon, the guy who set the world record last year for running 105 marathons in a year.  He was running with another guy named Gary.  Soon I had finished my 13th mile and was in the middle of mile 14 when Chuck flew by me for the final time, finishing in 2:35.  And I was past halfway!  Made it!

Soon, it was 16 miles.  I still didn't feel like I needed to walk.  A little more and I was in single digits.  Still feeling good.  My endurance is coming back!  

I caught up with Bernie Finn and his daughter Jennifer.  Bernie was doing the half, and Jenn was having a rough day, so she had stopped to walk with him.  Bernie has the distinction of finishing DFL in Grand Rapids last year, and was proudly wearing his Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon jacket.  After Bernie finished his half, I caught up with Jenn again, running back and forth with her for her last couple of miles.  When I finished mile 22 Jenn had just finished and I stopped to give her a hug and shake hands with Bernie.

At 2 1/2 miles to go I came upon a young guy who was struggling.  He was walking slowly, arms tucked inside his sweatshirt.  "I'm going to drop out," he told me.  He was only 3 miles behind me.  He wasn't trained for this.  "No, you're not!" I told him.  He ran with me for a little bit, and I told him how he'd be second guessing himself on Monday if he dropped out.  He dropped back, and I wondered if I had gotten through.  About a minute later, he came running by me.  "Thanks."  I caught him as he started his next mile, and told him that in an hour he could call his mom and tell her that he had just finished a marathon.  It seemed like I had just been through the line -- like the miles were getting shorter.  Nice.  My legs still felt OK, I had no desire to walk, no questioning my abilities like I've had for the last couple marathons.  I crossed the line for the 25th time and raised my arms.  The guys thought I was finishing.  "Nope.  I'm just practicing for my next time around."  Mile 26.  Party time!

I finished in 5:22.  Not a big deal, for sure, but it was my best post-knee-surgery time, and I was running strong all day.  Guess I need to do a little speed play and get myself back to 4:30 shape before too long.  Should be fun.

After my shower I went back to the course.  My young friend was nowhere to be found.  He was done!  I went into the post-race food area to congratulate him and hang out with the few people I had been running with who were still there.  Nice time.  

I have now run at least one marathon in each of the last 72 months.  Bragging a little, maybe, but I'm pretty proud of that.  I gave myself permission to end the streak at 100 months.  Just need to stay healthy between now and then.

and the adventure continues....

This is a test

I'm trying to enable podcasts on blogger.  Here's my first attempt.  It's one of my Marathon Minutes from September.  It's about my life list.  Click on the title above to listen!

I was kinda hoping for a little "player" icon or something, but it seems to work like this.  I haven't stopped experimenting yet though.

25 Things

I wrote this on Facebook yesterday.  It was a fun little exercise.  25 Things.

1. My nickname is Marathon Don. I got it around 1998, after I had run marathons for 19 months in a row.
2. I've run marathons on all seven continents three times.
3. I'm 52 and I still have a grandmother. And grandchildren. One time I took my grandmother and granddaughter to the Ionia Fair and got a picture of both of them together on the merry-go-round.
4. Granddaddy (Claud Washington Fults, my great grandfather) is my favorite ancestor. He used to raise fighting cocks. He also invested in some cemetery plots in Indiana, which we still own but are pretty much worthless.
5. I had asthma when I was a kid.
6. I was on the high school debate team. We went to the state finals once, where we really got our clocks cleaned.
7. I hate living with cats. Or dogs. Or most any other animal. I don't think one animal should own another one. 
8. I hope our new president does a good job.
9. I can't find a religion I like, that's why I'm a Third Reformed Antagonist. It's really hard to be a hypocrite when you make up your beliefs as you go along.
10. I have a list of over 100 things that I'm going to do in my lifetime. I keep checking things off and adding more.
11. Don't worry, your sister isn't on the list. No. Wait.
12. I have my own website, www.cooladventures.net. Every once in a while someone writes to me and complains that they just wasted half the morning reading my stuff. It makes me feel good.
13. I hang out at the YMCA in downtown Grand Rapids.
14. I like beer. I'm collecting a glass from a brewery in every state. 
15. I don't drink a lot, but I do drink frequently. I figure that if I pace myself I can keep drinking my whole life.
16. With the help of a lot of other people, I put on the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. This year it's on October 18th.
17. My favorite movie quote is, "If you had a face like mine, you'd punch me right in the nose. And I'm just the person who can do it." It's from an old Laurel and Hardy movie.
18. I have about six people who I refer to as my best friend. Depends on the context, I suppose.
19. I drink yuppie coffee. I live in a yuppie area. I like it.
20. My coffee maker grinds the beans automatically. Pretty freakin' cool.
21. I'm heterosexual. Actually, I come from a long line of heterosexuals. 
22. In high school, I played chess every day. My junior year I kept track of every game I played. I still have the tally sheets. I beat one guy in study hall 104 straight games. He wasn't very good.
23. The last game of chess I played was in Antarctica in December 2007. I lost.
24. I run with a bunch of really cool people. I think the average IQ of the group is around 130.
25. I saw at least three eagles yesterday.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

My old friend Dan Houts called me today and told me about a Bible study he went to lately.  The discussion started with "What did you want to be when you grew up?"  

It was a pretty inspirational story that Dan told me after that.  I told him that he needed to write it down and send it to me.  Knowing that he reads my blog, I figured maybe he'd write it and publish it a comment at the end of this entry.  How 'bout it, Dan???

Stay tuned to be inspired everybody....

2008 In Review

Every year I have only one New Year's Resolution -- to have at least as much fun this year as I had last year.  2008 proved to be the year that ended a very long streak.

Now, it wasn't because it was a bad year.  It just wasn't as fun as 2007, when I ran marathons on seven continents TWICE.  (I'm the only person who's ever done that twice in a year).

It was a great year though.  In January I started off with a trip to Florida with the lovely Francine for the Goofy Challenge--running a half-marathon on Saturday and a marathon on Sunday at Disney World.  We also threw in the 5K on Friday with Carly.  My biggest running weekend of the year, it turned out.

Somewhere around the end of that month, I must have twisted my left knee on some slippery roads and I tore my meniscus.  

Running was painful in February.  In fact, it was my lowest mileage month in several years.  I still managed a marathon that month, but it was pretty slow.

Sometime in March, I found a house for sale--a great deal on a 5 bedroom house in Forest Hills.  I knew it was right when I saw it, and the end of April we closed the deal.  So now I'm living in a cool house in a great neighborhood with a beautiful woman.  Life is good.

I managed to keep up my marathon-a-month streak, but after running the Bayshore Marathon in May and doing some hills a few days later, my left knee--which I thought was on the mend--returned to painfulness every time I ran.  After our climbing Mt. Marcy and running a marathon in Lake Placid in June, I decided it was time to have my good friends at Metro Health get involved.  A little physical therapy, an xray and an MRI, and they referred me to Dr Theut for a little arthroscopic surgery in July.  

My marathon streak was at 64 consecutive months at the time.  July would be 66.  I told the Doc that I was going to try and keep the streak alive.  I was willing to drop out if I needed to.  But 17 days after the knee surgery, I ran the Carrollton Marathon the last weekend of July.  SLOW.  But FINISHED!

On the way up some stairs to do hill repeats one lunch hour, Francine slipped and broke a bone in the back of her hand.  She had a plate and screws put in it, then the next day we flew to Montana for a vacation in August.  We did a very hot, slow, and hilly marathon (They even gave us a pin at mile 19 when we got to the top of a particularly difficult hill!) .  Francine got lots of attention for being all taped up from the surgery--but she finished with flying colors anyway.  We also took Carly to Glacier National Park.  

The Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon (my biggest project of the year) was fantastic.  Over 3000 runners, plus a kids marathon that involved nearly 1000 kids.  It was great.  

Two days later, on October 21, I had my right knee done as well--just to clean out a bunch of the stuff that was floating around in there.  What the heck, I had met my deductible for the year anyway.  

Mike Schwartz, my old college buddy, wanted to get away for an adventure.  So, in November, we drove about 3000 miles, climbed to the highest point in 6 different states, visited about 8 microbreweries, and spent one night at my friend Brent's house in Cheyenne Wyoming.    (read November blog entries for the whole story)  

Then, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, I did the Flying Monkey Marathon in Nashville and kept my streak alive for another month.  Month #69.

My beautiful granddaughters spent two nights with us at Thanksgiving.  Aunt Carly had a great time, and Thanksgiving night I went upstairs to find Carly, Ashley, and Amber in their bathing suits in the shower.  The shower curtain as outside the bathtub, of course, so there was water everywhere.  Oh well.  Still, I have LOTS to be thankful for.

Also, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Mary, both my kids and Katie's three girls came for Thanksgiving dinner at our new house.  We took five generation pictures.  We ate turkey.  

After totally missing the Christmas season in 2007, I got through the whole thing this year feeling like I still wanted more.  I suppose that's good.  And on 28 December, the lovely Francine and I ran a marathon in Springfield, Missouri.  Two more months and I'll have 6 years in a row of at least one-a-month marathons.  And Francine will have two years of a marathon every month.

14 Marathons.  Seven new state high points.  Only one night spent outside the US (when we didn't get back to Montreal in time for our flight and spent the night there).  A new house.  A successful GR Marathon.  Not a bad year.  

What's ahead for 2009?  Who knows?  I'm starting a new streak though--to have more fun this year than I had last year.  

and the adventure continues....

The New President

Tuesday I got ahold of Dan Manning and invited him over to watch the inauguration.  It was fun having someone there to discuss things with as they happened.  We drank a couple beers, ate some munchies, and watched the first Black guy get sworn in as President of the United States.  

This won't solve all the racism in the world, but it certainly won't hurt.  We've cleared another big hurdle.  

Now, I hope he can be effective, help pull us out of our economic problems, end as many wars as need to be ended, and whatever else he needs to do to be successful. 

So, we watched the whole thing.  We stood up when they sang the National Anthem.  And we're hoping for the best.

Windows and stuff

About a year ago, I bought a new notebook computer.  It works good, but a few small issues.  For example, the screen saver never worked.  The screen just stayed on all the time.  Also, every time I'd go to a client site, I'd have to put in a password to get to their systems, even though I had checked the box to say "Save the password" the next time you sign in.  They were only minor inconveniences, so I said the heck with it.

Then about a week ago, my screen saver just started working.  And today, when I signed in at Michigan Chief Sales, it didn't make me enter a password.  I don't understand it.  Usually Windows gets worse over time.  This time it got better.  I'm kinda happy about that.

On the way to Missouri

Actually, we're in Missouri now. Icy roads as we approached Chicago kept us from stopping to see Paul on the way through, so we just continued on to St. Louis last night.

Dinner at the Morgan Street Brewery. Before I got back to the table, Carly was already working on her first beer. Root beer, that is. Fisk, made here in St. Louis. Meanwhile, I settled for one of Morgan Street's Red Lagers. Nice.

After dinner we drove a few more miles and checked into a Drury Inn. When we got to the room, Carly went to the window. "We've got a great view! Steak and Shake, Bob Evans, Taco Bell..."

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Christmas day was nice. Christmas eve with Francine's family--tons of kids, grand kids....

Christmas morning. Francine got me a great coffee maker that grinds the beans and then brews the coffee. It makes really great coffee. :-) At 8:00 we ran with the Grand Rapids Running Club, and then went to Marge's Donut Den. A great start to the day. When we got home I thought about a nap, but found the movie, The Bucket List, on On-Demand. I've been wanting to see it for a long time, and I wasn't disappointed. Go see it if you get a chance.

I cooked a small turkey and a gigantic squash and called Chris to invite him for supper. A nice, low-key holiday.

Stuff from Misc Notes I Should Have Recorded Already (yet again)

22 November - Five years ago tomorrow I ran a marathon in my 50th state. It was my 87th marathon. It was a very special day that I shared with a very special woman.



Five years later--my whole life is different. Different house. Different wife. Different business. Better? Big time!



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Marathons, Mountains, and Microbrews--where it all began:

Marathons--15 October, 1995 in Chicago

Mountains--1993 in Tasmania, I hiked up a mountain with Robert, Adrian Moll, and Steve Pullen near Hobart. Great day. More recently, probably inspired by Knox White while on a trip to Antarctica in 1997. About a year later I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Microbrews--Sometime around 1999, hanging out with Shawn Sweet at Founders Alehouse. Yes! There's more to life than Bud Lite!

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Great weekend - but no running.

Snowbound! The weekend was a little longer than I had planned on--with all the snow Friday I spent quite a bit of time shoveling out. In fact, living on a street that's low-priority for the snow plows, I'm thinking it might be a long winter.

Friend Don showed up and helped push my car into some other tire tracks so that I could at least get back into my driveway. THANK YOU!!!

On dry roads, my tires would have been good for another 10000 or so. With the current conditions, it was time for some new tires. So after a few phone calls, I ended up at Belle Tire Friday afternoon for some new rubber. Much better!

Saturday morning--It was Santa Claus Girls delivery day. Over 13000 kids got presents Saturday as a result of their efforts. AMAZING. Our YMCA Service Club helps plan the routes and organize packages for them. We also help by directing traffic in the parking lot and by carrying packages to cars. Each delivery route has 14 stops, and we had around 350 routes! Very inspiring!!

I got home to find Francine shoveling. The road trucks had finally been down our street and piled about three feet of it into a wall in front of our driveway. I hate to think how many cubic feet of snow we had to move just to get our mailbox accessible again, as well as to get our cars in and out of the drive. After a bunch of shoveling, our neighbor DJ came over. "Can I help?" He went home and got his lawn tractor--with a blade on the back and a scoop on the front! WOW! It's amazing what you can do with the right equipment. THANKS!!

My girls came over Saturday afternoon. Ashley had to be in a wedding the next day--she's 7, and was the flower girl. Amber, 4, and Alexis, born Wednesday of Labor Day week, spent the night. Amber and Carly get along famously, so there was lots playing and dancing and singing going on. Lex is smiling all the time and sticking her tongue out, and has learned to burp without puking on me, which is a vast improvement since Thanksgiving weekend, when I went through quite a few shirts!

The big event was Sunday. My son-in-law Shawn along with the National Guard 125 Charlie Company returned from Iraq. We went to the ceremony at the Delta Plex to welcome them home. In spite of the nasty weather, extra plows were deployed at the airport and along the route to make sure our boys came home. Katie heads the Family Resource Group for the National Guard here, and so was key in planning the event. So I had lots of cause to be VERY PROUD of both of them.

We stopped and picked up a couple presents that Francine had ordered for her bosses, and then took Carly to the Mexican Telephone Company for lunch. (Taco Bell) Then came home and enjoyed a nice nap, snuggled on a sheepskin in front of the fireplace with the lovely Francine.

Not bad for a cold, wintry weekend in Michigan. Today, however--I'm buying a snowblower.

Interesting Quote

In light of the present financial crisis, it's interesting to read what Thomas Jefferson said in 1802 :

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Car Companies

OK, I'm going to say something about the car company bailouts.

First, I'm disgusted with the car companies in general. Probably with most publicly traded companies, in fact. No one seems to look at the long term. If the Big 3 AND the unions had looked ahead, they may have realized that sooner or later we need to develop alternate fuel vehicles, concentrate on economy, and maybe not commit to continuing to pay people from current revenue streams long after they're retired and not contributing anything to the company any more.

Now, with so much debt that it can never be serviced, they're asking for $34 billion worth of LOANS (more debt) to get them out of the current situation. How exactly is that going to help in the long term? My opinion is that it won't. It'll just prolong the problems for a while.

We have some pretty good bankruptcy laws in this country that would allow GM to restructure, get rid of a lot of debt, etc. Would it hurt? Sure. The shareholders would lose all their money. But they've lost most of it already, so that's just going to finish it off.

Meanwhile, our governor is busy lobbying for the bailout. Of course she is. She's governor of a state that hosts the automotive industry. She keeps asking who would buy a car from a company that's in bankruptcy? Remember United Airlines? Who would fly on an airline that's going bankrupt? Silly question, right? United went through the process, the shareholders got wiped out, but the company is still in business and moving in good directions.

I expect the Congress will bail out the car companies. Oh well. I hope it works if they do.

Meanwhile, let me talk about something cool the car companies do. They all have agreed on how far apart to space the holes so that we can screw our license plates to them. Then all the states agreed to make license plates with holes the same corresponding distance. Pretty good, eh? The whole freakin' country agrees on something. How often does that happen?

Imagine a state like Wyoming deciding to make their license plates with holes a different distance apart. That could be an effective way to keep people from moving there.

Stuff from Misc Notes I Should Have Recorded Already

I went to Aunt Erna's funeral about a month ago. She's my mom's aunt, the wife of my Grandpa Lloyd's brother Lawrence. Last summer we went to her 90th birthday party.

Everyone had nice things to say about her, like at everyone's funeral. No one ever says bad things about the dead at their funerals. In her case, I doubt that there IS anything bad to say. She was one of the nicest people in the world. You can tell that if you meet any of her kids (my mom's first cousins) or grandkids. They're ALL nice.

The funeral was almost joyous. Her suffering was over. Whatever would happen to her next would be better. What a nice person.

I hope people will have nice things to say about me like that. I also hope it isn't for about 50 years or so.

(I really don't like the song, "How Great Thou Art." Might be because I've heard so many people slaughter it in my lifetime.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Regarding the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon, of which I'm the race director:
"If you aren't having the best marathon experience ever, we aren't doing something right."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I need to do a "viral video" that catches on all over the country because it's clever, funny, or just plain wierd.

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Jacques Cousteau said this: When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was at Ben Burk's place in Rapid City, I had a pint of Brown Cow Ale at the Firehouse Brewing Company. Then I had a pint of Firehouse Red.

Elections, Races, and other random thoughts

Granted, it's not until January 20th that President Obama takes office, but it still looks like he's moving in good directions. At least I hope so.

Of course, there's the usual racist BS going on. I hate that. Yeah, we elected a Black guy president. I think that's good. Not because he's Black. Because the American people took that out of their decision making process.

I know--some people say he's only half-Black. So what. He looks Black. That's cool. I like that we have a whole bunch of races in this country. It makes life more interesting. Richer. Me? I'm just a plain White guy. Mostly WASP. But then, one of my great-great grandmothers was an American Indian. Another one was Dutch. I think there were a few Germans in there somewhere.

I don't like the term "Native American" when it's used to refer to American Indians. I have to go back five generations before I can even find one ancestor who wasn't born in this country. I figure that makes me as "native" as anybody. I also don't especially like any Hyphenated-American designations. I'm not suggesting giving up our ancestors, but once we're Americans maybe we should keep our eyes on making the future better. (Call yourself whatever you want though.)

After travelling to about 30 countries, I'm always thankful for the richness that the world has to offer. Every country, every race, every sub-culture has something interesting to add to the mix. Even travelling to other parts of the U.S. we find a whole lot of differences. Driving through the "Bible Belt" a couple weeks ago, I cruised the radio stations and was able to find either religious music or country music. Rarely a rock and roll station to be found. The waitresses around there all call me "Honey" or "Sugar" even though they just met me. It's a friendly part of the country.

Coming home from a trip to all seven continents for marathons last year, I was connecting through an airport in Tokyo and for the first time in about a month I heard some Americans talking. It reminded me of how much I missed home. Good old American Black and White people, talking in accents I could understand. It was nice. Made me homesick.

I like that our government is moving in directions where people are no longer "tokens." It's getting so that people are chosen more for their abilities and merits and less because they belong to a particular race or gender.

Our country is getting better. I'm not blind to the faults we might still have, but comparing 2008 to the 1960s it's amazingly different. We're moving in good directions. Let's keep moving.

Marathons, Mountains, and Microbrews

Yes, you know those are my three "hobbies" by this time. So now, all I need is a marathon to make the month complete.

It would happen on November 23 in a park in the southwest corner of Nashville. The Flying Monkey Marathon! It was just a little affair--only a couple hundred runners allowed, and a race director who (believe it or not) may just be crazier than I am. I had to contact RD Trent Rosenbloom to get in, since registration had closed a long time before, but he welcomed me.

Also, I ran into old friends GW and Linda from Colorado--my former shipmates aboard the Ioffe in last year's first trip to Antarctica.

Race morning was COLD -- around 27 degrees. But a nice day and not too windy, so after the race started it was comfortable. The course--ALL HILLS for 26.2 miles. There's an 11.2 mile loop that we ran both forward and backward, with a little more thrown in along the way. Since I wasn't familiar with the area, I never really knew which direction we were going. It was only up and down.

Somewhere around 12 miles I caught up with a guy named Max, and we spent the rest of the race getting to know each other and solving the world's problems. Finally, with only two people still behind us, we finished around 6 hours 37 minutes.

Slow day. Yes. However, only 4 weeks earlier, I had my second knee surgery of the year. And, in spite of that, I kept my marathon-a-month streak alive at 69 months in a row. Now I'm working on getting back up to speed, strengthening my legs, and getting my marathon times back to around 4:30 before another six months goes by.

So there you go. Month of November held seven state high points, about 9 or 10 breweries, and a marathon. Not bad.

And next November? I'm thinking of going back and giving the Monkey another try.

and the adventure continues....

Route 66

The final leg of the journey would start the afternoon of November 18th as we headed south to Amarillo and then to Route 66.

After stopping in Tulsa for the night, we hit the road fairly early, with the intention to get back home before the day was done. LOTS OF DRIVING. We got off the freeway again as we approached Kansas, and went back onto the two-lane version of the old Route 66. There are only 13.2 miles of it, cutting across the southeast corner of the state, so I wanted to travel the whole thing.

It was also a scouting mission, of sorts. Perhaps at sometime we could do a marathon, starting in Missouri, following Route 66 through Kansas, turning around at the Oklahoma boarder and heading back for just-slightly-long marathon. I think it would work well.

Back to the freeway and across Missouri, and I was getting tired of travelling and determined to be home for the night. Our only stops were at an outlet store along the freeway near Lebanon, MO, and then in St. Louis, where we had lunch at the Morgan Street Brewery along with a pint of their seasonal Pumpkin Ale. The brewery is practically in the shadow of the St. Louis Arch, so I got to see that as well.

Around 8:00 Chicago time I dropped Mike off at his place in Skokie, and headed for home as fast as I could get away with. Well, actually I didn't quite get away with it, but the Indiana state cop let me off with a warning.

Did I say that the final high point was a couple days earlier? Well, probably the best high point of the whole trip was the welcome home I got from the lovely Francine. But, that's a whole 'nother story. :-)

and the adventure continues....

The Final High Point

After a not-all-that-comfortable sleep, we got up and headed back to Black Mesa, elevation 4973. While it was about a 4.2 mile hike up, the climbing portion was real short. Being on a mesa (table top) we followed a nearly flat trail for about two miles before starting up. Then about 20 minutes of decent up-hill to another flat for a couple miles. At the highest point, we had now done six high points in the last 5 days. The stone obilisk at the top had on its sides what was in each direction. On the west, it said New Mexico is only 1299 feet away. We looked to the west and realized that we'd still be on top of the mesa at that point, so we walked to New Mexico.

We headed down and went into Kenton to The Mercantile to get something to eat. We asked for a menu, but they nearly laughed at us. The menu is basically either a hamburger or a cheeseburger. Hmm.... Since Mike keeps kosher, it's pretty hard to eat there. We picked up some ice cream bars instead. They gave us a certificate for climbing Black Mesa.

The next leg of our journey would be travelling Route 66 back to Chicago. We headed to Amarillo to pick it up there.

Route 66--America's Mainstreet, stretches from Chicago to Los Angeles. I always thought it would be great to travel it. Now-days a lot of it doesn't exist in its old form. We did pick up the old road a little after leaving Amarillo, and traveled the two-lane old road pretty much alongside the freeway for the rest of Texas. In Oklahoma, as it got darker, we reverted to the highway. We stopped in Oklahoma City at Bricktown Brewery for a beer and some dinner, and then continued to Tulsa to spend the night.

Back to the trip -- Nebraska and Kansas

Sunday night with Brent was nice, but Monday morning was back on the road. Fortunately, the price of gas is pretty consistently under two bucks now!

About an hour after leaving Brent's, we arrived at a little box where we could put three bucks apiece and then head down a drive to Panorama Point, elevation 5424. Even though we were over a mile high, it isn't what you'd call a mountain. It's just the highest thing they have in Nebraska. The best part of this one was the field of buffalos we had to drive through to get there. MASSIVE animals. Beautiful. Back to the road and we headed south via Colorado to Mount Sunflower in Kansas.

Mount Sunflower is another nice little drive-up highpoint. At 4039 feet, also not a mountain. Very nice little display of iron-art at the high point and very welcoming signage by the property owners. One more to go.

The trip into Oklahoma was perhaps the biggest adventure of the trip. After hours on the road, we wondered how it would take us as long to get there as my GPS said it was going to. We found out. About 20 miles or so from the Oklahoma boarder while still in Colorado, we turned onto gravel roads. We drove and drove until the road started curving around. The road narrowed. And narrowed. And narrowed. Before we knew it, we were on a two-track with grass growing up in the middle of it. So we're 800 miles from home, in the dark in the middle of nowhere with NO lights in the distance in any direction. We drove for about 10 minutes on the two-track before crossing the unmarked boarder into Oklahoma. A house appeared. The road turned back to gravel. And soon we were on paved roads again. We saw three HUGE raccoons on the road in front of us and stopped to watch them until they got bored with us and wandered off.

And five minutes later we were at the trailhead to Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma. Now we just needed a place to spend the night.

We drove into the small town of Kenton, about 5 miles away. Small town. It was around 9:30 pm, but the streets had been rolled up a couple hours earlier. The next nearest towns were 30-40 miles away, so we drove around and found a state park with an open bathroom and camped in the van for the night.

Personal Record

This month I set a personal for number of states visited in any month--

1 Michigan

2 Ohio

3 Florida

4 Alabama

5 Tennessee

6 Kentucky

7 Indiana

8 Illinois

9 Wisconsin

10 Minnesota

11 North Dakota

12 South Dakota

13 Wyoming

14 Nebraska

15 Colorado

16 Kansas

17 Oklahoma

18 New Mexico

19 Texas

20 Missouri

Still to follow--3 more high points!

South Dakota

The extra rest after an early evening was nice--we've done a lot of mile so far. This morning the high point is only about 10 miles away.

We arrived at Sylvan Lake for our climb up Harney Peak, elev 7242. The conditions were perfect, temperatures in the high 30s, partly cloudy, not much wind. Officially, the park didn't open until 8:00, but at 7:30 we were ready to go. Mike's "nervous energy" had kept him talking non-stop (even more than usual) as he bundled up in 5 layers. He reminded me of Calvin bundled up to go outside. We stopped about 200 yards in and I took off my jacket and Mike took off his top 3 layers. The hiking weather was actually pretty comfortable.

Snow! We were in 5 or 6 inches of it much of the way, but the trail was never hard to find, and several people had summited on Saturday so we always had footprints to follow. The hike up is a little over 3 1/2 miles, and in a little under two hours we reached the lookout tower on the summit. We were the first to the top for the day.

The view from the top is an amazing panorama of the Black Hills. We hung out for a few minutes, ate a few Oreos, and headed back down.

On the way down we ran into a couple guys from New Jersey who were doing the climb on the spur-of-the-moment. They asked if we had any water bottles they could buy. We gave them the two full bottles we had left. As we approached the parking lot, we found a cell phone on the ground which was probably theirs (there were only 4 of us on the mountain so far) so I set it on the hood of their car.

That's 26 state high points.


Next stop was Mt. Rushmore. As we pulled up to the gate, a herd of mountain goats was guarding the entrance. Mt. Rushmore is one of the most inspirational places I've been--the vastness of the artwork, and the symbolism of the images really makes me proud to be American.

I noticed that the Nebraska high point is only about a half-hour from Cheyenne, Wyoming. I called Brent Weigner, my bi-polar friend. Brent and I met on a trip to the South Pole, and we've been to the North Pole together as well. We arrived at Brent's and he took us out to CB & Potts brewery for a meal. Butt-Face Amber and Disorder Porter were the beers of the night. We spent awhile catching up on the latest adventures, and then headed back to his place for some rest.

North Dakota

It was a nice, easy day. We slept in a bit after getting in pretty late last night, then headed from Bismarck to a spot near the little town of Amidon, ND.


Neat stuff along the way--The Enchanted Highway near Regent, ND. Gigantic sculptures of birds in flight, deer crossing the road, and I found later, a few others that we could have seen if we had travelled a few more miles. Check 'em out at http://www.enchantedhighway.net/

The trail for the high point is down about six miles of gravel road before turning down a two-track lane for .8 miles to the trail head. Unfortunately, with the snow they got in ND last week (about 4 feet worth) we could only get about 2/3 of the way down it, and that was with a little jog over into the field to avoid getting stuck in the snowbanks. Still a little icy and as it warmed up, a little muddy underneath.

So, our hike was a little longer than the guide book said. At first, the trail was hard to find, but since we could see where we were ultimately going we just improvised for a bit. As we got farther up the mountain, it was more and more obvious where the trail was. Actually, it looks like everyone made up their own trail, as we kept finding new ones.

Anyway, after about 30 minutes, we reached the top of North Dakota, White Butte, elevation 3507 feet. We signed the summit registry, took a few shots, and headed back down. Mike has now bagged two state high points. It's number 25 for me.



We were fortunate to find a farm along the way where they raise buffalos (bison) so Mike was able to see his first ever buffalos.

Next peak is Harney Peak near Custer, SD. It's only 40 miles or so from my friend Ben's place in Rapids City. I called him. He's in Kalamazoo. Guess we won't sleep at his place tonight. We stopped at the Firehouse Brewing Company on Main Street and I had a pint of Smoke Jumper Stout. Nice.

Tonight would be an early one. Nice and relaxing for a change. We checked into the Bavarian Inn in Custer, only about a 10 minute drive from tomorrow morning's trailhead. Had dinner at the Sage Creek Grill. Very nice salmon, washed down with a bottle of one of my favorites--Moose Drool, from the Big Sky Brewing in Missoula, MT.

Life is good. I should have a better connection tomorrow and post some pictures.

and the adventure continues....

The Journey Continues

It's been a wierd week. I can't seem to remember what day it is.

Thursday, after a short night's sleep following my Floriday trip, I worked for 5 hours getting some computers set up at Michigan Chief Sales, and then headed for Chicago to pick up Mike.

Of course, I was running late enough to hit Chicago way too close to rush hour. It wasn't bad though. Everyone there is intent on one thing--getting out of town. It was really pretty orderly.

We headed north toward our first high point, Timms Hill, near Ogema, Wisconsin, with the intent of getting fairly close so we could do it first thing in the morning. We got as far as Appleton before we stopped. (Appleton is the site of the Fox Cities Marathon, which I've done a couple of times.) We stopped for a quick beer at Fratello's. Their brewery, however, is in another of their locations, but I did have a pint of their local brew. We stopped for the night a few minutes later.

Friday morning. North to Timms Hill. Driving north through Wisconsin it gets pretty desolate after a while. For a city-boy like Mike it was a bit of an eye-opener. Little hunting cabins alongside the road here and there, lots of nice wilderness. We got to the park that's around the high point and found that the gate was closed. Guess we might have to walk in. The map showed the road going out the other side, so we drove a mile or so to check it out. It was open--but the road was one way, one lane, and coming at us. Oh well. I drove in anyway.


We were the only people at the park, so no traffic incidents were to be had. We parked the car and proceed to hike a couple hundred yards up a well-trodden path to the summit. Mike's first high point, Timms Hill, elevation 1951. The sign actually says 1951.5. Guess they wanted an extra six inches. (I'm not going anywhere with that one.) There's an observation tower to climb that took us above the treetops for a great panoramic view of the surrounding area.

Next summit is in the west end of North Dakota. This will be our biggest driving day.

It's Wisconsin. We found a cheese shop and bought some cheese. Then before leaving the state, we stopped at Das Bierhaus in Menomonie for a snack and a pint of Marzen. Alas, no beer glasses for sale again. Back in the car for the trip across Minnesota.

It was looking like Fargo would be a great place to stop for dinner. Cheese in Wisconsin, so I figured buffalo in North Dakota was the thing to eat. A buffalo burger and a pint of Broad Ax Stout at the Granite City Brewing Company was nice.

We figured getting to Bismarck would be a good jumping off spot for the night. And that's where this entry ends. Heading west this morning.

The Epic Journey

Or whatever. It started with my old college buddy, Mike Schwartz. He said, I need to have an adventure or something. Spend about a thousand bucks. Hmmm... "Maybe you're talking to the right person. I have a thought."

I'm collecting state high points (see highpointers.org for info) I noticed a few years ago that the high points of ND, SD, NE, KS, and OK are pretty much in a line running north to south.

Here's the plan. I pick Mike up on Chicago. We hit the state high point of Wisconsin on the way, then head west across North Dakota, and start working our way south. After climbing in Oklahoma, we go south to Amarillo and head back to Chicago on old Route 66, just for fun. We left last night and spent the night in Appleton, Wisconson. We'll see how it goes.

Meanwhile....
Francine needed another car. Clint's mom had a really nice minivan which he was going to bring up from Florida to sell. The transport was going to cost him $300. I needed a break from the action for a couple days, and I also needed to check off Brinton Hill, the high point of Florida. So instead of waiting for Clint to get the van moved in December, I hopped on a plane for Tampa and proceeded on the world's longest test-drive.

Clint's dad met me at the airport about 2:00 pm. I headed for Brinton Hill at Lakewood Park, FL.

Brinton Hill is located far west in the Pan Handle, approximately straight south from Montgomery, AL. The trip took me through Talahasee for the first time, and then still farther west. Finally, at about 9:55 pm, I pulled into a little park close to the Alabama border, where I checked off the lowest-of-the-high points. At only 345 feet, it's not much of a climb. Just park your car and walk about 75 feet to a stone marker.

Back in the car and head north. The trip home was long, but nice. I listened to the various radio stations. Throught the south, while scanning for radio stations, it's either religious stations or country stations. The people on those stations don't have eyes. They have ahs.

I caught a couple naps along the way, driving until I was drowsy and then pulling off for a couple hours. Stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast at around 5:30. By the time I near Birmingham, I wanted a cup of good coffee, so I got off the freeway and found a Starbucks.

Nostalgia. I pulled around the corner by the Starbucks, and across the street was the hotel I stayed in nearly two years ago, when I made my first seven-continents marathon trip. "Hey! I know where I am! Cool!"

I had met some pretty nice people down there. Justin, the race director. Jill at trackshack dot com. A good friend from Kalamazoo, Brian Molrony, introduced himself to me down there and we spent a while searching (unsuccessfully) for a microbrewery in Birmingham. I ran a fun marathon there.

On northward. In Nashville, I stopped at the Blackstone Brewery for lunch. Shepherd's Pie and a pint of Nut Brown Ale. Nice.

North through Louisville, and a bit more nostalgia. I ran a marathon in a rainstorm there. Slept the night before in the back of my Aztek and watched fireworks over the river. Talked a janitor into giving me a big plastic bag for the soaking-wet-and-cold walk back to my car. Taking my post-race shower in a downpour.

Gas in Indiana for only $1.82. That's less than half of what we paid a month ago. Yet another nostalgic moment--I remember back when gas used to be under two bucks...

As I got close to Fort Wayne, I pulled off for gas again. This spot looked familiar too. Huntington, the site of the HUFF--the Huntington Ultra Frigid Fifty. The longest distance I've ever done, through lots of trails and lots of mud. The 50K there is actually too long. More like 32 miles. Huntington is also the home of former VP Dan Quayle. And they have a massive display of Christmas stuff in this little sunken park in the middle of town that's fun to walk around in.

It was my last stop before home. Finally around 10:30 I got home to the lovely Francine. A beautiful end to a long trip.

and the adventure continues....

Was Paul Simon a Great Prophet?

No, I wasn't crazy about either candidate, however--

Isn't it cool that FINALLY we've been able to put away the past (at least for a bit) and actually elect a Black guy for President!

I'm feeling pretty proud of my fellow countrymen right now. I hope our new president is up to the task.

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Was Paul Simon one of the great prophets? Somewhere around 1975, he sang:

"And if I was president
The minute congress call my name
Id say who do,
Who do you think youre fooling?
Ive got the presidential seal
I'm up on the presidential podium
My mama loves me
She loves me
She get down on her knees and hug me
Like she loves me like Barock"

What? You think I misinterpret? Go back and listen to the song again. And, what kind of colors do you think he might have been talking about in the song Kodachrome?

(You see what I have to deal with--this kind of stuff goes on in my head all the time!)

Best of luck, Mr. President-Elect!!

And now...I really am going to try and start writing again.

It's been a great year. And a bad one. Only bad because I haven't been running and working out as much as normal. But great in all other aspects.

A couple weeks ago I had my SECOND knee done. Arthroscopic surgery. This time, instead of going in and fixing something specific, it was more of a "search and destroy" mission. He went in and cleaned out a whole bunch of stuff that was floating around in there. Anyway, it was MUCH more painful than the first one. It's healing nicely though.

The lovely Francine finished another marathon today. Elyria, Ohio. A nice out-and-back course on bike trails. Significant, because she now has reached 51 marathons before she turns 51 in January. Also significant because she's now done 21 months in a row.

Meanwhile, Carly and I went out while TLF was running and found four different geocaches (http://www.geocaching.com/ if you're curious). It was a nice morning with a great kid.

Carly and I are getting to be closer as we go along. It's great having another kid--my other ones are getting OLD.

Life is good. More soon.

Quote from Jacques Cousteau

"When one man, for whatever reason, has the opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it for himself."

Guess I need to start writing more, eh?

25 June 2008 - Mt. Marcy, Lake Placid, and other stuff

On the 13th, the lovely Francine and I spent about 9 hours hiking up and down Mt. Marcy, the highest mountain in New York. 14.8 miles up and down over some really rough trails.

On the 14th, we ran the Lake Placid Marathon. With my knee not feeling bad unless I pushed it, I decided to take it really easy. Meanwhile, Francine ran a really good marathon, taking away an age group award.

After I got back, I decided to go see Terence for some more physical therapy. The following is exerpted from my newsletter:

OK, I told you my knee was goofy lately. Well, Terence has all the ligiments and stuff around it feeling pretty good now, but when he was twisting it around the other day I was feeling some pretty interesting pain. He smiled at me and said, "Let's get Ed in here and schedule an MRI."

So, it's looking like next Wednesday morning at 2:30 I'll be getting my knee scanned. And if it needs fixing, I'm going to get it fixed.

I watched an arena football game on TV once. About the only thing that impressed me about it was that one of the players had arthroscopic surgery on his knee on Wednesday, and on Saturday he was playing football. I was encouraged by that, though it was pointed out to me that no one is going to pay me many thousands of dollars to be back out running marathons the next weekend, regardless of how well it turns out.

Of course, worrying about it would be premature. The MRI might just tell me that I need to heal for a couple more weeks and quit being such a wimp. I hope that's the case.

I'm still planning on running in Carrollton, MI the end of July. Maybe it will be an early-start walk instead. My marathon streak is at 64 months in a row now. I'd hate to have to start over again.


I Threw My Brooks Shoes Away in Lake Placid
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Not because I didn't like them, however. They were great shoes. You know that Brooks makes the great race shirts that have become a tradition at our marathon. You may also notice that everyone on our staff is wearing Brooks shoes as well.

The shoes I was wearing were my Brooks Adrenalines. They're the same shoes I was wearing at the FINISH LINE last October when I was shaking hands and hugging a lot of you as you crossed the line.

Then, in November and December, I wore them for seven marathons across seven continents. Starting in Beirut, Lebanon; then to Atlanta; Florence, Italy; Port Elizabeth, South Africa; Wanganui, New Zealand; Vina del Mar, Chile; and finally in the Patriot Hills in Antarctica. The shoes had a LOT of miles on them, traveling all the way around the world.

I wore them at Disney World in January for Goofy's Challenge, completing both a half and a full marathon the same weekend. And for five more marathons since then.

Last weekend in Lake Placid, the lovely Francine and I spent nine hours on Saturday hiking up and down Mt. Marcy, the highest point in New York. I was wearing my Adrenalines. Then on Sunday, my old friends were with me for their final marathon, as we ran a beautiful course in Lake Placid.

Muddy, well-worn, with a dozen or so marathons under their laces, they found their final resting place somewhere in New York.

But don't worry--I'll be wearing a new pair when I greet you at the FINISH LINE in October.

11 June 2008 Crap! Another necktie!

Yeah, your dad will never say it out loud, but he's probably thinking it. I know, probably your dad doesn't even wear ties any more. Wouldn't it be cool though, if this Father's Day, you got him something he could really ENJOY?!?! Like maybe an entry to the Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. (How was that--not too subtle, I hope. The bold print is an attempt at subliminal advertising.)

My knee hurts. Some tendon thing going on which has caused me a lot of aggravation this year so far. Finally I decided to go visit some of my friends at Metro Health Sports Medicine for a bit of physical therapy.

Ever go to a doctor and only to be told that you shouldn't run anymore? Most runners react to that by finding another doctor. Anyway, Dr. Ed knows better--the guys at Metro are all about getting you back in the game. So I'm doing a couple PT sessions, icing, stretching, massage, and all that other great stuff.

And when I told him that the lovely Francine and I are heading out to do the Lake Placid Marathon this week, he didn't even raise an eyebrow. Hmmm...guess he's been around a bunch of us.

We'll also be climbing Mt. Marcy on Saturday. It's the highest point in New York, and Francine hasn't been up it before. Should be fun.

Happy Father's Day everybody. And stay away from the tie rack!

4 June 2008 Medical Marijuana and other thoughts

Medicinal Marijuana, and Other Thoughts

A few years ago I ran the Hogeye Marathon in Fayetteville, Arkansas on a very rainy day. I didn't have a flight home until the next day, so I talked to some of the locals to find out where the party was after the marathon. We ended up at a guy's house, where the party was going well until everything had to stop to watch an epsode of The Simpsons. It was about medicinal marijuana. At one time Homer said, "I hear it's a gateway drug."

Last night I was keying in an entry and the guy put in the comments, "I had so much fun running the half-marathon last year, that I have to run the full this year now."

So maybe the half-marathon is a "gateway drug." It's good, just not quite enough. Gotta go back for a bigger thrill--run the whole enchilada, do the full 26.2.

You can probably figure that I don't have anything else real interesting to say this week, or I wouldn't be talking about Homer Simpson. And I should probably put in a disclaimer too--I DO NOT advocate using marijuana. I DO, however, advocate running half-marathons, full marathons, and other similarly wonderful things. I'm one of the guys who can't figure out why people needs drugs--life it constantly keeping me high anyway.

28 May 2008 - Bayshore Marathon

Yesterday was my 52nd birthday. While doing some hill work, I think I goofed my knee up again. This time I'm going to go to a doctor or something. This is pissing me off.

Saturday turned out to be a BEAUTIFUL day at the Bayshore Marathon. I ran my best marathon of the year so far (which isn't saying much--I've had my brain and body somewhere besides in training mode lately). The lovely Francine ("I'll probably never qualify for Boston again.") ran a Boston Qualifying 4:05:44, beating her time needed by fifteen seconds. Dr. Rick finished fourth Masters in personal record time of 2:50! Cathy Fenton, one of our pacers, did a personal record 3:24 and took second masters. Robert Jarrin, another of our pacers, won his age group after leaving Rick in the dust in 2:49:19. Other staff members Lynne Oosterhouse and Sara Maher were there for the half-marathon as well.

Party in the parking lot afterwards with a few of the GR crowd, cheering on the people who where still coming in. People of all shapes and sizes, but all enjoying the accomplishment of finishing a marathon. Every time I see people coming in at 5+ hours and see the look on their faces, I'm reminded of why I enjoy this so much. The accomplishment of doing something BIGGER than most people will EVER do just inspires the heck out of me.

Yesterday I bought my first furniture for my new house. If you call it furniture. It was 10 of those plastic lawn chairs. Figured I'd need them sooner or later, and we had our first regular staff meeting of the year and I needed somewhere for people to sit.

21 May 2008 - From my newsletter.

I started a newsletter for the marathon. That's the big news this week. Now it's July, and I'm going to catch up on my blog a bit. A lot of this entry was in the newsletter.

At the end of April, Francine and I closed on a new house! Nice quiet street in Forest Hills. Grand Rapids address and just a couple blocks inside Ada Township. I really like it here.

Exerpted from the newsletter:

So, what's happening around here? Last week nearly everyone I know was running the River Bank Run. Now, a lot of people are suffering what I call "Post Partum Depression." (Yes, I know it's nothing like having a baby, but I can't think of a better term for it.) They trained for a long race (if you call 25K "long") and now it's over. Never fear! You can beat that depression by picking a Fall marathon and starting right back into your training! Do I have a biased opinion on WHICH Fall marathon you should enter? Duh!

So, in the process of moving, I'm trying to consume (with the help of my friends) some of the beer that was given to me last year at the marathon. (See http://www.grandrapidsmarathon.com/race day.aspx for details on where the beer came from.)

One of the bottles I got was labeled "Masters IPA - T" and was brewed by Tom Townsend and Scott Oberlin. Now, normally, IPA is a bit hoppy for my taste, but this stuff was GOOD! Nice finish, left a real good taste in my mouth. Keep up the good works, Tom & Scott.

This weekend is the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City. The lovely Francine and I are heading up there, along with other staff members Dr. Rick (who's gunning to get his Master's title back this year), Lynne Oosterhouse to do the half-marathon, and I'm probably missing a few others. Rick's been training like a madman this Spring, just won the Clydesdale A class at the River Bank, and is shooting for sub 2:50 Saturday. Which means he'll be showered and kicking back with a cigar and a beer by the time I get done. Oh well.

Starting Over

In case you haven't already heard, I just bought a house. Or, I should say, WE (the lovely Francine and I) just bought a house.

It's a great time for reflection for me. The first time I bought a house, I was 21 years old, just starting out, figuring out who I am. Now, it's like the same feeling. Starting fresh. I've been closing old accounts on past business ventures, shredding old records from the early 90s and before, just basically cleaning my life up. Now I'm getting ready to move into a new place with a beautiful woman. I've got fun things to do, including organizing the Grand Rapids Marathon. I've got a lot more experience now. It's pretty amazing.

Don't know where life goes from here, but I'm optimistic and excited about it. "Starting over" at 51. Pretty cool.

Dick's Sporting Goods

So, we're heading into Dick's Sporting Goods last week, and Carly is in the back seat, remembering another trip we did to the other Dick's Sporting Goods in the Rivertown Crossings mall a while back--you know, the really big two story one.

"Mom, you know how some Dick's are bigger than others..." is the way her story started out.

We don't know what she said after that, because we were way too busy trying to keep from cracking up in the front seat.

I thought this was interesting - from my email

Read it all!!
Our Tax System Described With Beer Analogy
This is brilliant: Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20."

Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so the fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings)
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 ( 22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.

"I only got a dollar out of the $20,"declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man," but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Georgia

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Running Last Weekend

Finally--February sucked! I pulled a calf muscle and only managed about 52 miles that month. Half of that was on one day. I did manage to log a marathon for the month, extending my streak to 60 months in a row. Then I caught that nasty crap that was going around, and the fact that I couldn't breathe well enough to run at least gave my leg enough time to finish healing.

So last week, I ran the Irish Jig, probably my worst 5K time ever. But at least it didn't hurt.

Sunday got better. Our little group (about a dozen of us) started at John Ball Park, ran downtown, then north through Riverside Park, onto the White Pine Trail. We went north to Fifth Third Ballpark and ran around it. The lovely Francine suggested that we hop the fence and run the bases. Hmm.... Only 4 of us did that, but it was kinda fun. (Note, I'm not saying WHICH 4, in case someone has a problem with tresspassing. In which case I officially disavow all knowledge.)

Then we ran back to John Ball Park, a total of nearly 17 miles.

The next day was St. Patricks Day. Now, the YMCA runners had a tradition at one time of running to the Triangle Bar, drinking a beer, and then running back to the Y on St. Patricks Day. We talked about it at a party on Saturday night, and decided that would be the plan. Now, here's the dumb part:

I knew of a triangle just north of Richmond Street, at the point of which is a bar. I pointed it out on the map on my iPhone, and someone even agreed that that's where we were going. Pretty easy route, exactly 2 miles from the Y.

So, five of us set out from the Y Monday at noon, and because I'm kind of a map guy, they had me lead the way, figuring I knew where I was going. We ran Broadway all the way to Richmond and I pointed the way north from there. "No, that's not right, it's over on Stocking." Guess what. The bar I was thinking of is called The Point.

OK, now I did ask where it was and showed someone on the map, you remember. Come to find out, EVERYONE I was running with had been to the Triangle before. Which had me wondering, "Why the hell were you all following me then?" Anyway, we ran to the Triangle, but were a little later than we had planned so a couple people just headed back to the Y. Kent, Brad and I had a pitcher of beer before returning. So our 4 mile run ended up being a little more than 5, but that's cool.

P.S. They also had corned beef and cabbage and some other stuff for free at the Triangle. Not good food in the middle of the run, but after showering, I went back up for an inexpensive beer and a free St. Patrick's Day lunch. Yummy.

P.P.S. Next time you guys decide to elect me leader, make sure I know where the hell I'm going, would you please?

Old Stuff

Found when cleaning out my old documents:

Did you know?
The word gullible isn’t in the dictionary.

Dear Don,
Gullible is too in the dictionary. I went and looked it up.
Reader

Dear Reader,
You can make $50,000 in the next 30 days. Send me $49.95 and I’ll tell you how.

My Little Girl - Part 2

So, just a little more than a week after Shawn was deployed, Katie called me. "Guess what, Daddy? I'm pregnant."

So, sometime in late summer or early fall, another baby will enter the picture. Should be fun!

My Little Girl

OK, she's not so little any more. In fact, she just turned 30 in December, and this month her husband Shawn's National Guard unit got sent on a 400 day deployment which will leave them in Iraq in a couple of months.

Katie is the president of the Family Resource Group for the local National Guard armory. She was the primary person in charge of planning the send-off for the unit. So on Monday a couple weeks ago, I walked into the Armory to see an amazing show. All the local media was there, flags everywhere, lots of refreshments and lots of ceremony. All planned by my daughter and a host of other people.

When thank-yous were handed out later in the evening, she was mentioned by name by one of the big-shot military guys.

Her dad, meanwhile, had tears in his eyes from being so proud of her. And from being proud of my son-in-law, as well.

I Gotta Write Something

Digging out! That's what I've been doing for the past month since returning from my seven-continents marathon tour. Man, am I behind on stories. So, I'll give you a few.

The lovely Francine and I went to Florida to do the Goofy Challenge - The Disney Half-marathon on Saturday, the Disney World Marathon on Sunday - and spend a day before that with my Mom and Dad in Eustis. The following event took place in that small, Florida town....

I sat motionless in the chair, totally still. The man beside me had sharp implements in his hands. One slip and I would hate to imagine what might happen.

The guy in the next chair, however, had lost control. He was squirming, crying, resisting, as a man nearly four times his size was holding him down. Try as he might, he couldn't get away, the big man pinning his arms at his side as the cutting was finished. He would leave that day a little lighter than when he came in.

And all the while, a woman took pictures of the procedure, preserving the event. She took a lock of the victim's hair and put it in a envelope. The procedure completed, the big man took out his wallet.

"It's on the house," the barber said, and presented the proud mom and dad with a Certificate of First Haircut. Maybe if I had cried or something, they would have given me my haircut for free. Or not.

Postings

In case you're looking here for something interesting, check my other blog at http://7continentsmarathons.blogspot.com/. That's where I've been posting the last month or so. Some of it's a little bit interesting. But don't get your hopes too high. :-)

Bad News

At 1:00 we had a briefing. Doesn't look good. We're definitely not leaving for the ice today. Or tomorrow. Or Saturday. I have until Monday at 4:17 pm Eastern time to finish the marathon in Antarctica. Otherwise, the only world record I'll have is for running all seven continents twice in the shortest amount of time. A bit of a disappointment. Still have some hope of flying on Sunday, and most everyone on the trip is game for running within an hour of when we get off the plane. Everyone would like to be home before Christmas. Me included.

So, this afternoon, Brent and I are going to go see some penguins. Just what I need. More penguins. Anyone know of any marathons in South America in the next three weeks or so? Maybe I start on 17 December in Antarctica and finish on 13 January in Disney World. That means I have to do a bunch of marathons between now and then. I'm only half serious about this, but I can't shut my brain off. Oh well.

About time...

Hey, I know I haven't been posting much lately, but I've been between two really big projects. Check it out near the top of my home page at www.cooladventures.net. I'll be blogging on my Seven Continents Blog for the next month, so keep an eye on me. Click on the Seven Continents in 25 days link and go from there.

Chicago Marathon

Race organizers were just not ready for this one, in spite of the warnings they were emailing us. Nonetheless, I had a pretty good time there.

Spent Saturday working the expo in the afternoon, then FINALLY managed to get to a brewery in Illinois and collect a beer glass from that state. Paul Ruesch, my best traveling buddy. and I spent the evening at the Goose Island Brewery, eating some wings, a light dinner, and watching the Cubs finish getting swept out of the playoffs.

Sunday I was a pacer for the marathon. Christina and Pauley, my local training partners, Randi Lass, and I were the 5:15 pace team leaders. (NO!! That DOES NOT mean 5 minutes and 15 seconds per mile!) We started off with a group of around 100 others who would try to finish the course in 5:15, our mission to stay on pace and encourage/help them along the way. Good intentions.

We were really close to our pace all the way, adjusting a little after each mile as we needed to stay on. Big problem though. It was in the high 70s when we started and just got worse from there, and by the time we made the aid stations the water was mostly gone. COMPLETLY gone at the second one. This is just not good for such a hot day, especially when we were trying to help fairly new marathoners finish their race.

We separated a little bit, but I kepe Pauley and Christina in sight until past the 15 mile mark. In fact, I stepped on the 15 mile mark exactly on pace. Still good a half mile later at 25K mark. Then for the third time I reached a water stop with NO WATER. Now I was getting aggravated.

Finally just past 17, Paul met me and gave me a bottle of Gatorade and filled my water glass. I went on, taking a little break between there and 18. I ran for a few minutes beside a girl I would later know as Kristen. We chatted a little, then got separated. Just before 19, they started announcing that race was cancelled. I've heard stories about this stuff before, and decided to ignore them and keep running. Just ahead, they had a fire hydrant opened up and spraying water all over the place. Another announcement. Nora, a first-time marathoner running beside me with 5:15 on her back turned to me and said, "What are you going to do?" I said, "I'm going to run through that fire hydrant over there." "Then what?" "I'm going to finish running this marathon." She said, "OK then, I'm going with you."

At the next aid station, we ran into Kristin. She joined us, and the three of us (despite the warnings to just walk) ran the rest of the Chicago Marathon. Nora finished her first marathon and I watched her eyes, close to tears, with the joy of doing so. I lost track of Paul, Christina, and Randi, but at least one person in our 5:15 group accomplished her dreams that day. It felt pretty darn good!

Some days are good, some are bad. It's the nature of adventure. I had a great time anyway, made a couple new friends, helped someone finish her first marathon. Nice day.

What I did on my summer vacation

What I didn't do is write too much, so here's a short (and probably inconclusive) summary.

May 28th or so I ran the Bayshore Marathon. My 50th consecutive month running a marathon. No, that's nowhere close to a record--my buddy John Bozung from Utah has that one at the moment. His current streak is around 13 years worth. Tom Adair is in second place at the moment, and I think he's about 91 months ahead of me. And there's probably someone in between us too. I haven't given up yet--those guys are older than me. Maybe I'll outlive them.

June 16th ran the Run Charlevoix marathon. Slow, hot, felt like crap. Got through it. Had a nice weekend with the lovely Francine. (Just like every weekend with the lovely Francine actually.)

In June, I also started a new thing, the Marathon Minute. It's a weekly minute of inspiration that I write and record on WOOD Radio. You can hear them on marathonminute.com if you're interested.

In July I ran a marathon in Carrollton--something that's becoming a habit. In fact, it becomes a habit if you only run it once, since it's the same 5K course eight times. Nice people putting it on though.

I also read an article about Getting Things Done, a book and a way of life that has revolutionized the way I do things. I've been undergoing major restructuring of my file system, calendars, etc. Still in progress, but it's making me more effective (in my mind, at least).

August. Took a trip to Alaska with Francine and Carly. What a blast. Did a marathon (duh!). Took a day trip to Portage Glacier and Whittier. Took a day trip to Talkeetna. Took the train to Seward for a day. Saw moose, bear, eagle, mountain sheep. Hung out with my old friend Ole. Heard Diana (Ole's wife) singing with her group in Anchorage. Went hiking with Carly a few times. She's a fun kid.

September. Went to Tupelo. Oh. You already knew that from the previous post. Oh well, it's fall now (almost) so I guess this post is over. Maybe I'll start posting more often.

Marathons, Mountains, and Microbrews - Mississippi

Cool weekend. Spent Friday evening watching the Bourne Ultimatimum with the lovely Francine. Then it was an early morning flight to Memphis.

It was probably not the most efficient way to get to Tupelo, but it was a much cheaper flight. Besides, I had another mission to accomplish - to knock off another state high point. Now, Mississippi's high point is Woodall Mountain. The "mountain" part should be in quotation marks, because the elevation is a whopping 806 feet! (Only Delaware, Florida, and Louisiana have lower high points.) I drove to Iuka, Mississippi, and drove all the way up the road to the top. Not very inspiring. There was no sign, only the little USGS marker in the center of a circular gravel driveway. Someone had put in three cement benches in a circle there, but vandals had uprooted one of them and broke it in pieces. A fairly uninspiring place to be. Oh well, check another one off the list.

Now, on to Tupelo. The cool thing about this race is the medals and the slogan - "Trample the Weak. Hurdle the Dead" The logo is a skull and crossbones. Makes a pretty cool looking finishers medal.

I expected to be really slow with the heat, and probably could have been a few minutes faster, but at about 19 miles I caught up with Steve and Jaclyn. We started talking and were having fun, so I decided to stay with them for the rest of the race instead of running by myself. Jaclyn was running her first marathon that day, Steve his 10th.

The course was an out-and-back, so we got to see everybody. At the turnaround, the people doing the 14.2 mile run took the shortcut back to the finish line, and we turned around and headed back the way we came. The course was billed as hilly, but hey, in Mississippi a mountain is only 806 feet high, so my discription would be something more like "rolling."

We plugged along, enjoying the day, enjoying Jaclyn's excitement as she approached the finish of her first marathon. At 25 miles, I asked at the aid station if they had beer. "No, but I've got one in my truck. You want one?" It was cold and refreshing and just what the doctor ordered. I finished the beer and then rejoined my friends for the last mile.

After an hour or so hanging out with friends at the finish area, I headed back to get cleaned up, take a 15 minute nap, and then the trip to Memphis for my flight. I had a couple extra hours, and figured a beer and some lunch at Pat O'Brien's on Beale Street would be nice. Sitting there I had another one of those "moments" when I just start laughing at how cool life is. It's 5:00 on Sunday afternoon, I woke up in Grand Rapids yesterday, visited a state high point, ran a marathon in Tupelo, and now here I am in Memphis having a beer and a burger at Pat O'Brien's. As usual, I have tons to be thankful for. And I certainly am.

and the adventure continues....

Interesting stuff I get in my email

So, yeah, I'm throwing a big event. The Metro Health Grand Rapids Marathon. But WTF ever made this guy think we needed a guy who lifts weights with his ear to come along and add to the festifities?!?! Nonetheless, I like the guy anyway.


Sub: - Information Required about Festival. and show
Sir/Madam,
It is pleased to inform you that i am Zafar Gill Guinness World Record Holder lifted with one ear. i visited your web site and know about your festival.
i wish to participate in your festival. what is a criteria to participate in your festival ? what is a requirement? Because i have all that things which you required like press release, photos, cd's, Guinness Certificate etc... You can see me on google (write down zafar gill ear lifted).
I will provide you all things which you required about festival but very first i want to know about festival that can i participate in your festival? show.
Last year i beat my new record in Germany (Impossible Challenger) i lifted with one ear 61 kg.(13 sec). Now i wish to beat this new record in your festival. i wish to lifted 65 kg. above 10 sec.
i hope you will reply me nice
Thanks:
Zafar Gill
Guinness world Record Holder
Lifted with one ear.

Here's an article I found:
Pakistani athlete sets new ear lifting record
Staff Report

LAHORE: Zafar Gill, a boxer from WAPDA, has got his name registered in the Guinness Book of World Records by lifting 51.7 kilogrammes by one ear on May 26, 2004.

He broke the earlier record of China’s Li Jian Hua who lifted a column of bricks weighing 50 kilogrammes by one ear for 9.3 seconds on December 17, 1998. Talking to Daily Times on Friday, Zafar said: “I appeal the government to provide me all the facilities to maintain this record and raise it to 55 kilogrammes. I am waiting for a multi-national company for a sponsorship so that I can enhance the image of the country in the sports world.”

Fourth of July

Nice day. Ran 11 miles in the morning with the lovely Francine, followed by a detour through an orchard where the black sweet cherries were pretty yummy. Then saw Evan Almighty in the afternoon, and went to Lynne's house for fireworks later. A very pleasant day.

Evan Almighty is a pretty fun movie, even has a couple good messages in it. Morgan Freeman plays God. Nice concept: When you pray for patience, you don't get it right away. Instead, you get opportunities and situations in which you can develop patience. Pretty good thought.

Usually, for me to consider a movie a "good movie" it needs some kind of a decent message or philosophy lesson to it. This one had it. I expected just to be entertained, and I was. The bonus was that it made me think too.

Quote for the day

"The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude." William James

Blue Moon?

We got invited to a Blue Moon party Saturday night. Blue Moon beer had a promotional thing going, so the hosts had Blue Moon tshirts, etc. Pretty fun party. I was a little confused though.

A "Blue Moon", the second full moon of the month, actually happened in May, not June. The second full moon of May was on May 31. So, I was having a little mental conflict with the calculations there. Apparently, Blue Moon beer people were as well. Or were they?

I looked it up. These are Eastern Standard Times.
May 2, Full Flower Moon 6:09 am
May 31 Full Blue Moon 9:04 pm
June 30 Full Strawberry Moon 9:49 am.

Now, Blue Moon, being a Belgian White beer, maybe figured out that they should go by the moon phases in Belgium instead of the US. Which would have put the full moon on June 1 at 1:04 am. And then again on June 30 at 1:49 pm, Which would, of course, make the it a blue moon in June instead of May!!!!!

I went to bed last night, thinking I had solved the mystery.

Thanks to the Internet, however, I find that Blue Moon is actually created and brewed by the Molson Coors Brewing Company, in FREAKIN' COLORADO!!

More Internet work--seems that most of the places you go to look up moon phases post it in Greenwich Mean Time, which is, of course, a few hours ahead of us. Apparently that's the time all the calendar makers use too, since everything BUT the Old Farmer's Almanac site have things posted in GMT. So again, mystery solved.


Here's the NPR story that prompted me having such a bunch of confusion in my mind (copyright NPR):

Blue Moon on Thursday? Not So Fast

All Things Considered, May 30, 2007 · There is a prevailing myth about what a blue moon is. Thursday, May 31, will bring the second full moon of the month. But that does not constitute a blue moon, as is popularly believed.

Kelly Beatty, editor of Night Sky magazine and executive editor of Sky and Telescope, tells Robert Siegel that a blue moon actually refers to the phenomenon of having four full moons in a season, which ordinarily has three.

Beatty also acknowledged that his magazine had a hand in giving the misconception credence. Sky and Telescope magazine recently put out a press release explaining its role in perpetuating the myth. It read, in part:

Our 1946 writer, amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955), made an incorrect assumption about how the term had been used in the Maine Farmers' Almanac, where it consistently referred to the third full moon in a three-month season containing four. (By this definition there is no blue moon in May or June 2007, and the next one happens in May 2008.)

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/objects/moon/3304131.html for more interesting stuff