Former Action Guy

Extracurricular Activites #3 :Reserve Deputy Sheriff

2012-01-27T13:29:00.000-06:00

As I have written before besides my regular job I also work/volunteer at a few other activities. I officiate high school sports and work as a Emergency Medical technician. Another activity on my ADD inspired list of tasks is I am a reserve deputy sheriff in a rural county in northeastern Iowa. How I got hooked up with this activity was a somewhat long process. I happened to be talking to one of the security officers that works for my company and he mentioned he was a reserve officer in this county and that they were hiring reserves. This interested me for several reasons. This county is the county where my family is originally from and I used to visit it quite a bit when I was young. I have always been interested in law enforcement and I also thought it may give me a more well rounded approach and add some credibility to my day job as operations manager for a contract security company.

So I obtained and application and turned it in. And I waited and waited and waited.. eventually I forgot about it entirely. One day over a year after sending in the application I got a call from the reserve captain inquiring if i was still interested. Although I had forgotten all about it I told him sure. He arranged an interview and once that was done, I completed my processing,fingerprints,background check etc.. Then I was a provisional deputy. In the state of Iowa to become a fully qualified reserve deputy you have to finish the reserve officer academy in 18 months and attend and pass weapons training. Each individual sheriff then can designate how he wants the reserve deputies used in his county.

At this point I am one module from completing the reserve academy and I have completed the weapons training etc.. The sheriff in my county allows reserves to augment regular deputies for special events such as fairs, rodeos etc.. I have participated in several of these events. He also allows reserve deputies to operate independently once they are qualified and have a certain number of hours spent as a rider with a regular deputy. I currently am still conducting my ride time and may get on my own sometime this summer. Honestly I am not in too much of a hurry as I enjoy riding with the other deputies and seeing how they operate.

As I mentioned the county I operate in is rural and it has the normal rural law enforcement issues. Animal versus car accidents,speeding,OWI,drugs etc.. There are only two towns in the county that have their own police forces, the rest of the small communities contract with the Sheriff's Office to patrol their towns and provide law enforcement support. So much of my time on duty consists of patrolling these towns or checking for speeders on one of the two highways that bisect the county. I try to work 2-3 times per month and so far I really enjoy it. Eventually I may try to get on as a reserve in a department a little closer to home but for now I like where I am at

Triple D Winter Race

2012-01-15T19:36:00.000-06:00

So the Triple D Winter Race is the first race in what I have named my Winter/Spring of Awesome. I was looking for a January race and it came up on a Google search. It is held in Dubuque Iowa which is only about 90 minutes from where I live.Not sure why they call it the Triple D but it sure is a cool race. I choose to run the Half Marathon (13.1 miles) because frankly I was a little apprehensive about running a trail race in the winter, would I need snowshoes or what? The Triple D is actually 4 events there is the Half Marathon, Full Marathon and Ultra Marathon and a 100KM Mountain Bike race. All these races where held on the Heritage trail system which is a rails to trails system that follows the valley made by the Little Maquoketa River in Dubuque County Iowa. I was a little worried the week prior to the race that it wouldn't be a true winter race as it hadn't snowed yet this year. Not to fear though, we got about 6-8 inches dumped on us the Thursday prior to the race so there was plenty of winter for everyone.

So I got up early the morning of the race and made the 90 minute drive to Dubuque. On the way I did my traditional crappy job of fueling up by eating an egg mcmuffin and a small coffee. One of these days I will do things right but why mess with tradition? Packet pickup was at the Grand Harbour Resort in Dubuque and I arrived about 0815, early enough to pick up my packet and get dressed prior to the pre race briefing at 0900. This was a self supported race so what I carried would be what I had. I was dressed in layers, long sleeve tech shirt, running pants, stocking hat, gloves and my old Army PT jacket (hey it is free and it works) with a GU Gel and some GU shots in my left pocket, and my iphone, emergency numbers and inhaler in the other. On my feet I had my gators and Yak Trax.I was also carrying 2 hand bottles full of diluted Gatorade.

After the pre race briefing we loaded on the Half Marathon bus which would shuttle us to the start point out near Farley Iowa. The trip to the start took awhile, long enough for me to take a little nap. Eventually we turned off the highway and down a gravel,snow covered road. I wasn't sure the bus would make it up a few of the hills but it was fine. The bus dropped us off at a point where the trail crossed the road and we all piled out. There was probably about 20 runners in our group. In front of us heading back towards the east was the start line spray painted on the trail.

So we all kind of milled about for about 10 minutes or so and I took the opportunity to relieve myself in the woods.

Finally someone yelled " Is there any one from the race here?" No one answered, we were on our own. See what I mean about self supported? After figuring out there was no official starter we all just hit our watches and started down the trail.

The race itself was pretty uneventful. I was listening to metal tunes on my iphone and every 5 minutes my running app would inform me of my current distance and pace. The snow got a little slushy in the sunny areas but I found if I took smaller strides and turned my feet over quicker the traction was improved. Since the course followed the river bottom, winding in an out of the large bluffs in the area I think it was slightly downhill the whole way with only one uphill in the whole race. Snowmobiles also used this trail and if you kept on the spots they had packed down the traction was pretty good.

About mile 7 I started bonking a little due to my lack of nutrition but the Gu took care of that issue pretty quickly. I stopped a few times to take pictures and pretty much decided to just enjoy the scenery and the nice sunny winter day. About mile 8.5 we passed the base of the Sundown Ski area and seeing all those people waiting on chairlifts got me daydreaming about when my Special Forces team was doing winter training near WinkleMoos in Bavaria. We were ski touring around the area and one night we stopped at a Hutte and drank way to many Weisbieres. We then had to ski back in a blizzard a couple of kilometers to our hooches (tents) that were set up in the woods on the mountain. Good times. I wasn't really passed by anyone and I didn't pass anyone else after the first few miles. Everyone just kept moving it down the trail. There was one poor guy who was using cross country skis but the gravel base on the trail was messing them up as well as the snowmobile tracks. He also had to take them off everytime we crossed a gravel road. He made it though about 15 minutes after I came in.

Towards the end as the temperature rose to about freezing I started getting hot as I was just a tad overdressed. I took off my hat and unzipped the ventilation ports under the arms of my jacket ( reason I wore the jacket). I quickly cooled back down. The finish line was just as unceremonious as the start, we crossed a bridge and stopped in the parking lot of a bar. You walked inside told them your name and they wrote it down. There was a bar tab established for racers however which was a plus.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay to long as I had a family event going on later in the afternoon, so I grabbed the first shuttle back to my car. All in all this was a good race and fun. I finished in 2:16:49 which is not a PR but is 15 minutes faster than the last half marathon I did. That last half marathon was also on dry pavement so I felt pretty good about my time. I think next year I will probably do the Marathon.

Wrestling: Opportunities to Succeed

2012-01-02T09:27:00.002-06:00

University of Northern Iowa Assistant Wrestling Coach Mark Schwab wrote an excellent article on winning themes in the 2011 NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Check it out here http://theguillotine.com/wp/?p=4638 .

As I read the article it came to me that theses themes dovetailed nicely with my theory that wrestling is the sport that causes us to achieve the most in life no matter our level of expertise or ability. I have borrowed Schwab's 10 winning themes and expanded them to regular life.

10. Stance Mobility and Discipline- Schwab makes the point that those who win are those that stay in an athletic stance and employed correct repetition. This is also true in our everyday life..winners employ good habits and keep themselves positioned to win at all times. Losers let themselves relax and get out of the correct position. Life's winners keep their eye on the ball.

09. The winners moved forward or circled- Controlled but not reckless, successful people show relentless forward progress in their affairs. Winners continue to set goals for themselves on a daily, weekly, and yearly basis. When you quit moving forward you lose.

08. The winners have a defense that is rarely penetrated- Our defense means a strong financial situation, family, and faith life. Being able to fall back on these strong defensive measures in bad times will separate the winners and the losers.

07. The winners wrestled through the period and kept their butt to the center- Essentially this is telling us to fight to the end, never quit and always look to go on the offense. If you get knocked down look at it as an opportunity to learn and grow. Quitters never win.

06. The winners attacked the bottom position- When you are down you need to explode from the bottom. You need to be aggressive and persistent in facing life's challenges.Make it hard to keep you down.

05. The winners kept their opponent down- Once we have surmounted an obstacle or problem we need to keep it from reappearing. keep the pressure on and learn from your mistakes so as not repeat them.

04. I cannot tell you how many points were scored on the edge of the mat or in the closing seconds - Once again never quit. Also never relax until the problem is solved don't let your guard down and get an unpleasant surprise.

03. The athlete who tried to hold on to or protect a lead often lost- Relentless forward progress. Everyday is a job interview as I like to say. You cannot rest on your laurels because our society is very much what have you done for me lately. Prove yourself everyday.

02. The winners are physically strong and conditioned- Keep yourself in shape both mentally and physically so that you can handle issues as they arise.

01. Strong Body language- Those that appear confident and expect to win often do. Mental focus and a strong desire coupled with the confidence to realize our goals eventually result in victory.

Wrestling instills these values. Winners in wrestling and life attempt to use them constantly.

Last Post of 2011

2011-12-31T18:15:00.001-06:00

2011 turned out to be a good year. Many races were run,money was raised for charity,emergency medicine was performed. Athletics were officiated,work was completed and weight was lost. Some goals were met,some were not and some changed from the original concept. However positive forward movement was made in all areas. To all my friends,family and anyone I interact with make 2012 another good one. I plan on it.

New Widgets

2011-12-22T22:03:00.000-06:00

Hey it is a two fer Thursday. I was recently contacted by a student at UC Santa Barbara named Evan Thomas. Evan is working on a few online projects to benefit veterans.

The first is a Medal of Honor Data Base

Find the Best Medal of Honor Recipients

The other is a Veteran Grave Locator

Check them out and help a young person out with some feedback. I have added them to this blog in appreciation.

De Oppresso Liber

Former Action Guy By The Numbers:2011

2011-12-22T21:05:00.002-06:00

n Ok in what I have officially named The 2nd Annual By the Numbers Post, I now regale you with...numbers

Officiating by the numbers
Football games officiated-50 ( this is down from last year. Didn't have as much time to officiate Lower level games)
Baseball games umpired-75 (see above)
Wrestling matches officiated-100-150 ( Roughly the same as last year)
Top Ten Athletes or Teams officiated-20
Hall of Fame Coaches whose hand I shook- 1 (Butch Pedersen Football West Branch, Iowa High School Coaches Hall of Fame )
Number of Coaches that told us good job- Can't remember any this year, was a bad year for grumpy coaches

Running/Biking by the numbers
Ultramarathons complete- 1 (Dances with Dirt 50K)
Marathons complete- 1 (Rockford Marathon)
1/2 Marathons complete- 1 (Soaring Wings 1/2 Marathon)

Marathon Relay Complete 6.6 Miles-1 (Quad Cities Marathon)15K run complete- 1 (Muddy Monster 15K)

10K run complete( Passionately Purple Quest for the Cure 10K)

8K run complete- 1 (Return of Turkey Trot 8K)
5K run complete- 2 (Alliant Energy 5K,Freeze Fest 5K)
Mountain Bike races complete- 1 ( Sylvan Island)
Miles run in 2011-1025 ( I still have a week left so add about 45 more to that. Those are scheduled miles)

Social Media by the numbers

Social media accounts-16 (twitter,facebook,myspace,linkedin,dailymile,google+,blogger,tumblr,youtube,posterious,instagram,foursquare, gowalla,getglue, pinterest,flickr)
Tweets-10691 (yep I have no life..still)
Blogs started-1 (Former Action Guy: irun iowa www.mikemac356.posterous.com)
Blog Posts- tumblr-1107

google+- 57

posterous- 62

instagram- 38

flickr- 137

pinterest-17

blogger-33 ( again no life..still and I like to talk about my favorite subject..me)

Emergency Medicine by the numbers

Ambulance Services working for-2
Number of calls-100
Number of ratings taken and passed- 2 ( EMT-Intermediate and Advanced-EMT

Law Enforcement by the numbers

Agencies working for-1
Hours worked-108 ( still new at this)
Number of Reserve Deputy Modules taken and passed- 5

Fandom by the numbers

Times I saw the Troy Trojans football team - 5 (ESPN3 is awesome)
Times I wished I hadn't-5
Times I watched the Iowa Hawkeye football team- 12
Times I I wished I hadn't-5 (was a bad year for football at the old homestead)
Times I saw the Minnesota Vikings live at the Metrodome-1 (even though we suck this year the game was still awesome)
Times I disowned the Chicago Cubs-Everytime

Random Numbers

Years since Army retirement-7
Years since joining Army-29
Years since graduating Airborne School-28
Years since graduating Ranger School-23
Years since graduating Special Forces Qualification course-21
Time I miss Special Forces -Everyday
Kids graduated this year-0 ( next year will be the last)
Anniversaries-24
Birthdays-48
United States Practical Shooters Association Matches competed at-4

So there you have my year in numbers. Some things different from last year, some quite similar. I hope I can maintain the status quo and keep things steady for next year as well.

See ya in 2012

How Do I Feel?

2011-12-18T19:34:00.000-06:00

Ever since our administration announced the end of the war in Iraq I have not been sure how I feel. As I have talked about a few times on this blog I was part of the initial invasion of the country in 2003. It could even be said that Operation Iraqi Freedom was the culmination of my military career, it was the last time I would lead men in combat, it was the last time I would deploy on a real world mission, and it was the last time I felt truly in charge of my own destiny. Many people try to analyze how soldiers in combat feel, trying to get inside their heads and ascribe there own feelings and desires on to the members of our military. Killing is bad right?So those that kill must be screwed up when it is over? We have to think that way or the whole house of cards falls down.

I am going to be brutally honest here folks and realize that this statement applies to me and me alone, others have their own opinions. Ladies and Gentleman COMBAT IS FUN!!! Yes there are many moments where bad things happen and you wish you were far far away, but when you are in the heat of the moment and you are closing with and destroying the enemy as you have been trained to do all your adult life that is fun. By fun I don't mean ha ha funny I mean satisfying. The adrenaline and the intense feeling of being part of a hardass team of proven professionals cannot be replicated.

So how do I feel? Somehow I feel like a part of me has gone missing. During my career in the Infantry and Special Forces I went many places that the public never heard about or barely remembers. The Sinai Peninsula,Bosnia, and Kosovo where all real world missions where we braved the threat of hostile fire but these did not have the gravity of Operation Iraqi Freedom. So somehow the ending of the war in Iraq has officially closed my connection with the military 7 years after my retirement. As the years go by the phrase " I was in Iraq" will be said less and less as other conflicts supercede the one that once dominated the headlines. Eventually when I am an old old man they will start doing countdowns of how many of us still survive.

I guess I just miss my teammates. De Oppresso Liber

Tandem

2011-12-11T22:08:00.000-06:00

Standing on the ramp of the CASA 212 aircraft I couldn’t see anything but the red glow of the jump lights on the ceiling and the full moon as it slid in and out of the wispy clouds. Everything else was blocked out by the 6’3’ 230 pound Navy SEAL Lt I had strapped to the front of my harness like so much luggage. At 5’7” I was standing on my tiptoes to keep him from lifting me off the ground like a rucksack. Even though it was summer in Arizona the temperature at altitude was chilly and the wind swirled through the small two prop aircraft. The glow of the jumplights turned to green and the Jumpmaster gave the thumbs up signal to standby and I placed my googles over my eyes as we awkwardly shuffled to the edge of the ramp.

Our instructor/evaluator grabbed the lip on the edge of the ramp and swung himself out into space, hanging on by one hand like a human meat flag in the relative wind outside the aircraft. The jumpmaster swept his arm pointing out of the aircraft, in the signal to GO. Myself and my passenger rocked once, (he rocked, I was just along for the ride) and we tumbled out of the aircraft into the darkness of the desert night.

I attended the Military Tandem Master course in 1997. It was conducted at the Military Freefall School and was instructed by PO1 (SEAL) Shane H. and current United States Parachute Association President Jay Stokes. At the time Jay was a Special Forces Warrant Officer and the Chief Instructor/Safety Officer at the MFF School. I was an instructor in the Advanced Military Free fall course and was attending this training during a break in classes. Military Tandem was in its infancy and we were some of the first students to undergo the training. The concept was to train special operators to deliver cargo, either animate or inanimate via parachute into areas that may be denied more conventional methods.

We had spent the previous 3 weeks packing, inspecting and jumping the military tandem rigs manufactured by Strong Enterprises. We had started out conducting ground training and then progressed to “Hollywood” jumps with no passenger, passenger jumps, equipment jumps etc… Our last training evolution was to be a night, combat equipment, oxygen, weapon jump. To be more specific I and my passenger would both be equipped with a 60 lb rucksack, oxygen mask and bottles and a M4 rifle to simulate infiltrating a combat environment via High Altitude Low Opening Tandem parachute jump. I had swapped between two partners during my training a 5’2” 130 lb Filipino named Jonny and the aforementioned SEAL LT. Guess who was to be my partner for this jump? Well it wasn’t Jonny.

As we exited the aircraft I kept my head up as I felt the familiar wave where the relative wind coming from under the aircraft attempts to flip you over. Riding the wave is easy if you keep your head and feet up during the transition to stable freefall. If you don’t you can go for a ride ,as the wind will catch your extremities and send you tumbling across the sky. As we transitioned belly to earth something , perhaps part of our equipment, started pushing us over on our side. I panicked slightly as during training the terminal sidespin was the one malfunction that was shown to be the most difficult to recover from. I immediately reached for and deployed my drogue even though we were not entirely stable. I was taking my chances with a drogue malfunction versus the sidespin scenario. Fortunately the drogue deployed as designed, I immediately checked my primary, secondary and tertiary ripcord devices. I also checked my cutaway pillows in the event of a malfunction upon parachute deployment. I then tapped the Lt for him to come out of position one. Basically up until this point he had been in a ball as so much cargo. When I tapped him he went into a freefall arch to assist me in stabilizing our two bodies.

I checked my altimeter and we were approximately 9000 feet above the deck. I tapped the Lt again and we initiated a turn so that we were oriented to face the landing area on the drop zone. As usual the landing area was marked with an opened based triangle or wind arrow made of beanbag lights. From our altitude they looked like softly glowing points of light surrounded by the pitch black of the desert floor. As we turned, we started to rock violently or buffet. This was fairly normal in Tandem operations and signified that basically something was catching the wind unsymmetrically and there is not much you can do about it except for try and relax. As we fell though the buffeting became more violent and it started to push my oxygen mask up over my eyes. I had to keep grabbing it with one hand and push it down while trying to maintain stability.

At 7000 feet I tapped the Lt and he once again assumed position one. I visually cleared the airspace above me in preparation to deploy our canopy and at 6000 feet I waved my arms over my head to signal anyone above they were about to get a face full of F111 fabric. Due to our severe buffeting issue I then located and grabbed my primary ripcord, keeping my eyes glued on the altimeter until we reached 5000 feet. I timed the pulling of the ripcord so we were at the peak of the buffeting, this way our drogue would not entangle with our feet or any equipment when it was released.

The sensation you get from deploying the tandem canopy is different than the one you get from a normal freefall parachute. Normally when you deploy your pilot chute this, small parachute will pull the deployment bag containing your parachute out of the pack tray on your back and as the parachute elongates and fills with air you slow down from terminal velocity quickly and sometimes violently. I always packed a “snivel” into my chute so the opening was a little slower but softer. However during a Tandem deployment you actually speed up prior to canopy deployment. Once you pull the ripcord it releases the drogue that you had been trailing, this drogue acts as your pilot chute and deploys your canopy. When the drogue is released the tandem pair feels a “trapdoor” affect as suddenly for a few seconds you are back up to terminal velocity.

When our canopy deployed I immediately checked it for any holes or discrepencies. I then unhooked the straps at waist level that had been cinching me to my passenger, we were still connected by shoulder straps. I tapped him and he was worked his leg straps farther under his buttocks, so he could sit more comfortably in the harness. As he did this I located and gained possession of the steering toggles. I turned our canopy towards the landing area. I handed my passenger the lower set of toggles so he could assist in steering our huge canopy.

I pulled the googles off my eyes so I could see better, and we executed a number of slow,lazy S-turns upwind of our targeted landing area. Keeping our eyes out for other jumpers we kept our heads on a swivel as we and the other tandem pairs formed a stack up wind of the target. At 1500 feet we headed downwind and past the target landing area, at 1000 feet we turned to the right and went cross wind. At 500 feet we turned back into the wind and headed into the open legs of the wind arrow. At 100-150 feet we released our rucksacks and I felt the old familiar tug as they reached the end of the 15” lowering line and started swinging in the air. As we neared the ground may passenger lifted his legs in almost a sitting postion, approximately 15 feet above ground I heard our rucksacks hit the dirt and I flaired the canopy dynamically to slow our forward progress. Due to the limited visibility and the extreme height differential between myself and my passenger, I had no intention of trying to make a standup landing. When in doubt feet and knees together and execute a Parachute Landing Fall. We hit terra firma in a cloud of dust and basically slid forward into the wind arrow. Our rucksacks came bounding up behind us, hitting me in the back of the legs with their momentum. Members of the drop zone party came out to assist us in untangling ourselves and recovering our equipment. As we walked towards the bus that would take us back to the hanger, I breathed a sigh of relief. One down, one to go, I was to be the passenger next.

Wrestling-What Men do during Boys Basketball Season

2011-11-22T19:35:00.000-06:00

Where I come from the sport of Wrestling is as popular as any other with possibly the exception of Football. The average wrestling fan in the state of Iowa is probably one of the most knowledgeable of any "casual" fan you might meet. We live and breathe wrestling at all levels like those in Texas do Football. In my room at my parents house I had two posters on my wall. John Wayne in the movie "Green Berets" and the above picture of Dan Gable, multiple Iowa High School,NCAA,and Olympic Champion. One defeat in his High School and Collegiate Career. Unscored upon in the 1972 Olympics, and legendary coach of the University of Iowa Hawkeye Wrestling team.

As a high school wrestler honestly, I wasn't very good. I was unbeaten at the Junior Varsity level and about .500 at the Varsity level. However this didn't keep me from dreaming big. I would get up in the morning and run the 10 miles to school in a rubber suit (most of this stuff is frowned on, if not illegal for High School wrestlers now.) I would lift weights every day with the football players, I would run home. I would go days without eating trying to make weight. I would do things differently if I knew then what I know now but who wouldn't? But I was going to be like Gable. I knew that I was going to be an Olympic Champion. I believed it with my entire being. The year I failed to make the District tournament was one of the most devastating of my life.

But look what wrestling taught me. It taught me you had to be tough to realize your goals. It taught me everyone doesn't always get what they want. It taught me that you can push yourself farther than you think you can.It taught me to make a plan, to drive on to the objective and aggressively take what you want. All these things I used and still use.

During my 22 year career in Army Airborne Infantry and Special Forces units I readily credited my wrestling experiences with giving me the edge to take on and pass the challenges of Ranger School,The Special Forces Qualification Course, Military Free Fall School and many other special operations courses.Wrestling gave me my first taste of what I was made of and what I was capable of doing.

When I retired from the military and moved back to Iowa, the epicenter of wrestling, I decided to give back to the sport. I knew I wouldn't have time to coach but I thought I could officiate, so I became a wrestling offcial and have been one for 7 years now.Officiating has its ups and downs, the fans in this state cut no slack when it comes to the sport. At any given high school meet in this area, 20 miles from the University of Iowa, you might see any number of former state champions, NCAA Collegiate Champions or even the odd World or Olympic team member acting as a coach or even just sitting in the stands as a parent. Everyone in this state has wrestled or knows someone that did. The pressure is intense even at the High School level and the Iowa State High School Wrestling Championships are televised statewide and have a rich tradition.

I enjoy everything about the sport and as the season starts for another year I have started officiating once again. When I am out on the mat seeing two young men and even a few young women these days, I am intensely watching as they grapple with each, trying to bend the other to their will and assert physical dominance. Sometimes I look at these athletes and wonder which one of them will be the next Olympic Champion, the next Ranger, the next Green Beret. Or which one of them will always remember when they were simply just a "wrestler."

The Return Of The Turkey Trot 8K 2011

2011-11-12T17:31:00.001-06:00

So once again I laced up my running shoes for my monthly race. The month of November it has become tradition for me to run the Return of the Turkey Trot 8K. This would be my third year running this race. The race is held in the next town over so it is also convenient.

So the morning of the race as per my usual pre race ritual I hit my snooze alarm until it was too late to hydrate or eat anything. Once I finally got out of bed I had just enough time to change into my running gear and drive the 9 miles to the start. Temperature was in the low 30's so beside wearing my running pants and a long sleeve shirt I brought a stocking hat,jacket and gloves for the race. Besides the temp however the sun was shining and the weather was good for running.

They had moved the start of the race about 2 miles south to Marion High School from its former location in front of the middle school. This was due to some major road construction around the former start. Said construction also made it difficult to get to the start since a lot of roads were closed. Parking was at a premium and I ended up parking in the back of the high school on the grass as all the lots and streets were full. As a mentioned last year http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/11/return-of-turkey-trot-8k-2010.html this race has gotten bigger than most local 5K. I think they said there were 1800 runners/walkers registered this year.

One thing I did like was that they actually took over 50% of the suggestions I had to make the race better this year. They staggered the start times for the races, changed the routes for all the races and added chip timing. However probably because of the location, porto potties ( I didn't see any) were still at a premium and water stops were still only 2. But I can see they are trying and it is overall a fun time. So once I parked I decided to ditch the jacket and gloves but I kept on my stocking hat. I walked in to the school to use the facilities and on the way out got to see the race mascot.

The reason this race is so popular is that they really make it a community event and there are a lot of school kids on "teams" running the 4K. The kids love the turkey. After hanging out with Mr. Gobbler I moved to the start line and waited for the signal. Right about 0900 at race start the mayor gave us a few words, they played the National Anthem and gave a benediction. Due to the staggered start the 4K runners would start after us so there were many people milling around when we got the READY,SET,GO!!!!

Once the race started it took me about 30 seconds to get to the actual start line due to the crowd and the fact I always start at the back. We ran slightly down hill for about .5 miles until we took a left into a residential neighborhood and started heading up hill. All of the route for about the next 1.5-2 miles was familiar as the course in prior years had run by the high school so in reality we were running the same course from a different start point. I was feeling pretty good and like always I started out fairly quick (for me) until I settled into my natural pace assisted by the adreneline of racing. The first two miles we ran south and east away from the start. The neighborhood also had some fairly significant ups and downs which tested my endurance as I don't run a lot of hills. I was really concentrating on trying to run upright to keep my lungs open and keep a quick foot turnover. I passed the first mile in 8:33 watch time and 9:00 gun time. I was breathing hard but easy as we headed back north and west.

At this point we joined the 4 k route for about a block and then turned back on our own. This was uncharted territory as this was the part of the route that had changed since last year. This part was fairly flat to rolling and somewhere about mile 3 I passed Kris T. who is married to Brian T. who I ran with in the Muddy Monster 15K. I asked where he was and she said he was up ahead somewhere. I continued on pace trying to run easy. We turned west and where now running past the old start point. It was somewhere in this area that I met up with my old nemesis from last year "little guy who runs." He is a year older as am I but you gotta have alot of intestinal fortitude to run like that as a 9 year old. I wished him luck as I passed him, there would be no back and forth today I was feeling too good.

The route continued west on a long fairly flat straightaway. I hit the 4 mile point in 33:21 and I knew I was on pace for a 8K PR. Looking ahead I recognized Brian about 500 meters ahead of me. I decided I would just keep running and if I caught him so be it.As it happened we turned back south towards the finish line and I steadily gained ground on him. Just about the time I caught him we headed into the cemetary. I had forgotten about the cemetary since in the last few years it was at the beginning not the end of the race. The route through the cemetary starts with a steep downhill and finishes with about a 200-300 yards steep incline to run out of it. Deviously they had kept it as part of the route. I passed Brian on the downhill and waved and remarked how the hill was going to suck, he agreed. I powered up the hill, passing many, but it took a lot out of my legs. Brian caught me shortly after the crest and we ran together for about a mile. As we turned back south and uphill for the last .5 miles to the finish my legs were still feeling the cemetary hill and Brian pulled ahead. I kept up my pace however and crossed the finish line just behind him.

Gun time was 42:03 and my watch time was 41:46. I had run a PR and beat my time from last year by over 2 minutes 30 seconds. As a bonus since I had started out at the back and he had started in front of me I had actually beat Brian by 6 seconds..sweet. Its fun having somone to run against even if its not really a competition. Now I have to find a December race.

Goats

2011-11-08T21:06:00.000-06:00

I hate goats, I think they are nasty, foul smelling little hairy quadrupeds. However in a lot of places I frequented when I was in the military they are a symbol of wealth . It is a lot easier to raise a goat than it is a cow. They eat about anything and produce milk,cheese,and meat. You can make clothing from their hide. A man with a goat has status and so they are very common, although still nasty as I said earlier.

Two particular instances involving goats stick out in my mind. Maybe you had to be there but these two episodes are two of the most hilarious experiences in my life.

The first happened in Greece. I described that deployment here: http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/06/elefsina.html Of course after all the training was over our Greek hosts wanted to have a huge feast to celebrate. After our last jump the rickety bus bringing us back from the drop zone stopped at a small roadside restaurant in a mountain pass somewhere north of Athens. Spread out before us was a banquet of meat, bread, cheese and of course the obligatory shots of ouzo. Not to go into all the details but just to say much ouzo was drunk and there was a lot of man dancing and shot glass smashing.

Somewhere during all the festivities a couple of my fellow team mates decided we needed to play a little prank on our team leader. The Greeks had slaughtered a goat for the occasion and cut it like a roast on platters etc... The head including the eyeballs was left and the Greeks where just going to throw it away. We convinced our little Greek buddies to cook the head and present it to our team leader as a Greek delicacy. Our interpreter Alex, who was a Warrant Officer in the Greek Army, was in on the deal. He had them place the head on a platter surrounded by olives and lettuce,the whole nine yards.

So they presented the head to our team leader and the lot of us spent about 20 minutes trying to convince him that it would be a grave insult to our Greek counterparts if he didn't eat the eyeballs plucked straight from their sockets. Honestly I can't remember if he actually did it or not, I do remember however that I was very drunk and I laughed so hard at the look on his face as he was trying to make the weighty decision whether to cause an international incident by not eating the eyeballs or to just hold his nose and man up. That look was priceless. Nothing like a highly educated officer and a gentleman contemplating eating an eyeball in front of 40 of his closest friends..buddy is only half a word.

The second incident happened on a deployment to Uzbekistan that I chronicled here: http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/04/baxmal.html
Once again we had pretty much finished up training and we were trying to fill some time in our training schedule. As usual when all else failed we relied on medical cross training to fill in the holes. Our medics instructed our counterparts to go into town and and buy some goats. The plan was to dispatch the goats and then when they were still warm and before rigor mortise had set in we would practice some of our trauma skills, life saving skills like IV cutdowns and chest tubes. Well, this all worked out fine as our medics instructed my team and the Uzbeks on how to perform these procedures. We all took turns and a lot of confidence was gained in ability to save a life or at least stabilize our fellow soldiers until more definitive care arrived.

The funny part happened towards the end, I instructed Misha one of the Uzbek soldiers to go out in the hallway where we had been keeping the goats tied to a radiator. I told him to bring one into the class room so the next person could practice his skills. Mind you, our medics had been putting these goats down humanely with drugs prior to the procedures. Suddenly from the hallway I heard this god awful bleating and scrambling. I went out into the hallway and there was Misha looking at me with the most terrified look on his face, like a kid caught with his hand in the candy jar. Meanwhile he had a hammer in his hand and was beating the goat between the horns in a desperate attempt to knock it out or kill it. The goat was looking a Misha wild eyed with its tongue hanging out as it bleated and tried to scramble away. As I approached, Misha went in to a frenzy but he kept hitting the goat on the hardest part of its head, right between the horns. I took the hammer away from him laughing my ass off because he was so befuddled and terrified that he was going to get in trouble.

Meanwhile the goat just started chewing on its lip and stood there quietly none the worse for wear. In my best Russian I asked him if a country boy like him had never killed a goat before. He just broke into a grin and shrugged his shoulders. I guess the sight of the Uzbek soldier trying to impress the Americans with the hammer and the goat after being in that bleak, dismal, wintry place for so long just released all my tension. To this day it is one of the funniest sights I have ever seen.

Well like I said maybe you had to be there but I am chuckling right now.

Occupy Cedar Rapids

2011-11-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

So I was out for a run today and much to my surprise I came across our local faction of the "occupy" movement. It was a pathetic sight, about 5 makeshift tents, a few signs, a flag and 2 people milling about. One was a twenty something everyday average guy and the other was an old hippy (hey if your older than me and still rocking the pony tail your a frickin hippy.)

Ok so not to intimidating and I don't think any riots will be starting there as the spot the are "occupying' is a vacant lot in a flooded out section of town well off the main drag. I just happened to run by them totally at random. However seeing these yahoos got me thinking about this whole Occupy Wall Street movement.

I don't necessarily disagree with everything these people are saying, and as the saying goes I would defend their right to say it. And even though the original Wall Street occupiers may have had a message and an agenda it is my impression that this message has gotten garbled and the whole thing has turned into a circus. I was listening to NPR (yes I listen to NPR) and they were interviewing some occupiers about what they were going to do with all the money that had been donated. Some of the people were lamenting the fact that other occupiers were looking for free handouts ( I laughed at that one). As one of the people said "Since when does a revolution need a 501c?"

I guess my main issue with the whole sordid mess is these people seem to want to get something for nothing and if they can't have it they want to drag others down to their level. This my friends is the direct result of 50 years of handing out "winner" ribbons to every kid who runs a race and empathizing and getting to know the feelings of others. All this hand wringing and psychological posturing has done is give us a generation of "where's mine?" Instead of trying to make their own way these people are jealous of the so called 1%. They claim they are the 99%.. well skippy I make less than 100,000 dollars a year (way less) so I damn sure know I am the 99% and you don't represent me.

What happened to earning what you get? I am not jealous of the rich in this country, if they get to pay less taxes,good for them. I hope to be rich someday and if not I at least hope everyone gets to pay less taxes. I am pretty libertarian (small l) in my views, and I think people ought to pull themselves up and earn there own way. Sometimes you need some help sure but just because you need help doesn't mean you have to take stuff from the guy over there, just because he has more than you. Why can't you both have more? Why can't we all strive to be prosperous. Why can't we all work hard and earn what is due us to the best of our ability? Everyone doesn't get to be the CEO people, somebody has to clean the toilets. Be happy with who you are, always do your best and wherever that takes you is where you are supposed to be. Like that great philosopher Yoda said " There is do or do not, there is no try!"

You know why I run? Because good health is not given to you. You have to earn it, you have to earn it everyday. However as I get older I get less and less healthy no matter how hard I try. That is natural, its called aging. Nature doesn't owe me anything because I can't run as fast as I used to and I am less flexible and my hair is gray. Should I go "occupy" high school and complain about how all these kids are in the prime of their lives? Should I require them to color their hair gray and put on fat suits so I can keep up with them?

I spent 22 years in the United States Army, 14 years as a Special Forces operator. I have attended and passed some of the most ardous and physically demanding training in the world. At one point in my life I was an elite killing machine, you know what I am now? Well I am not that anymore. Why is that? Because I no longer can keep up, should I "occupy" Ft. Bragg and demand I be taken back? All that is ridiculous you say? I totally agree,just as ridiculous as some person complaining that they have 30,000 dollars in student loan debt and they can't find a job. Instead of getting a job, any job and earning a better life they would rather whine and blame it on the rich.

I have run marathons, jumped out of planes, been shot at, shot at people, been cold, wet and hungry. All that experience has taught me is that life has winners and losers. Life also has taught me that blaming your troubles on others does squat for you. Heck its even in the Bible "Thou shalt not covet your neighbors goods". Wake up, fight through the ambush. Quit your bitchin and do something with your life.

News flash skippy...everybody doesn't get everything. That's life, your job is to earn the best life you can. Be productive,contribute to society..earn it

That is all

Soaring Wings Virtual Half Marathon-Cedar Rapids

2011-10-28T13:36:00.000-05:00

The Soaring Wings Half Marathon is held in Conway Arkansas to benefit the Soaring Wings Ranch childrens home. The cool thing about this event is that they give runners an option to register and run a virtual marathon without ever being in Conway. Once you send them proof you finished your own Half Marathon they send you a shirt and a finishers medal.

This is the farthest race I have run since the Dances with Dirt UltraMarathon I did back in July. I was planning on running the New Bo Fest Half marathon in September but due to a foot injury I didn't run the entire month of August so those plans were scratched. I saw this virtual race option on the internet and since I wanted to get one more long race in this season it was perfect.

So race day dawned crisp and sunny with a light wind and about 41 degrees, I took a vacation day from work so I slept in until 0800 when my youngest informed me he had overslept and missed the school bus. So I quick put on my running clothes and drove him to school. Once I got back I grabbed a banana and my water bottles and started out. I had decided to run a general route but my actual route was going to be somewhat of a mystery. I figured I would just run a big loop and at the end make up any distance needed. That plan actually worked out well. I also decided to take my time and take plenty of pictures.

I started out running part of a familiar route down 33rd Avenue heading east. I kept running down 33rd until it T intersected with Bowling street at about 3 miles.

I live on the edge of Cedar Rapids which is a town of over 200,000, so my route would take me through farm land and urban areas. I then turned north on Bowling and headed up the first of two steep hills. This hill was about a mile long and was actually divided into two parts with a flat area in between. At the top of the hill I turned east again, running along Wilson Ave and then C St until I hooked up with the Cedar Valley Nature Trail and once again headed north.

At about 7 miles I was still feeling pretty good, staying well hydrated. I stopped for a minute on the 15th Avenue bridge and then headed into the downtown area. I turned west on 3rd Ave and then zigzaged my way to 1st Ave still heading west. About mile 9 I hit the second steep hill, I was starting to get a little fatigued at this point so this hill wasn't as easy as the first.

At the top of the hill I headed south running past Kingston Stadium, Veterans Memorial Baseball Stadium, and the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena. I stopped and synchronized my iphone imapmyrun app and my Forerunner GPS at this point. The iphone said I had run 11.09 miles by now and the GPS said 10.23. Since the iphone also said I had run 6 minute miles yesterday I went with the distance off the GPS.

I was on the home stretch, I contiuend south on Rockford Road then and quick jog west on Wilson again and then a turn south on 18th St. I was now back out in the somewhat rural area although new housing developments are taking over the cornfields at a rapid pace.

At 12 miles I once again hit 33rd Ave this time heading west until I got back to my neighborhood. I had guessed pretty good on the distance so I only had to take a little extra trip around the block to make up the last 3/10ths of a mile to finish at my front door at exactly 13.1 miles.

This was not a PR by any means. But all and all a good run/race and a great start to the morningf.

Muddy Monster 15K Cross Country Run

2011-10-22T21:31:00.000-05:00

I had been wanting to run this race for a few years but my schedule just never seemed to work out. It is a unique race for the area as it is run entirely on grass or dirt roads. I really enjoy trail runs so I thought I would give it a try.

After the usual pre race hydration ritual of a an energy drink I showed up for packet pickup. The race is held at Seminole Valley park which the city maintains with a historic village and farm. The race course winds through both of these as well as the park. I was required to park about a 10 minute walk from packet pickup in the grass. There was no designated parking lot so I parked along the roped off area and walked over to packet pickup to grab my timing chip and goody bag. The goody bag for this race is better than some I have seen with lots of snack bars and some coupons I might actually use.

It was pretty chilly at that point and I was wearing my stocking hat and coat

I was also wearing my running pants as the temperature was about 30 degrees. I would regret this later. So about 30 minutes before racetime I ambled over to the starting line and took about a mile warmup run. I started to regret my clothing decision almost immediately. By the time I ran that 1 mile I was already overheating. When I arrived back at the starting line I saw a couple of friends and fellow runners Kris and Brian. We talked for awhile then the National Anthem was played and we all lined up for the start.

I had taken my jacket and stocking hat off and was carrying them in my hand. I figured I could toss them under my car as the course passed that way. Once the gun sounded I took off at a moderate pace. My goal was to use this as a training run to put a few more miles in for the week. So I was shooting for 10 minute miles. I saw Brian take off up ahead of me and kind of kept my eye on him. The course was 3 laps of a 5 K route. There was quite a few 5K runners so the course was quite congested at the start. We ran through the grass by the car parking area and I tossed my jacket under my car, shortly after that we turned north and hit a small trail. The lead 5K speedsters passed me going the other way at this point. The trail dumped onto the access road that circled the living history village and we ran the perimeter of the village and headed back south on the same trail.

After coming back out into the park itself we hit the grass, running past the finish line and up a slight hill. We then ran about a mile east strictly on grass. About halfway through this section there was a large muddy and watery low spot. I tried three different techniques crossing this area during the race. I went to the left,I went to the right, and I ran straight through. No technique was better than the other. After the muddy area we headed down hill and hit a dirt road than continued east and then looped back on itself. It was during this section that I caught up with Brian and passed him, then about .5 miles down the road he passed me

We kept up with this back in forth for a few minutes then by mutual agreement started to run together. We crossed the start line and completed the first lap in 29:11. Lap 2 was more of the same with the exception that there were quite a bit fewer runners since the 5K runners had turned towards the finish. Brian and I ran at a steady pass holding a conversation for most of Lap 2. Somewhere on the dirt road section the lead 15K runners lapped us but we kept our steady pace. We finished Lap 2 in 1:00:05.

At the start of Lap 3 I was really regretting wearing my running pants as the temp had climbed to about 60 degrees. I was also feeling the reality of not running over 6 miles in the last 2 months. My legs were beginning to wear down and I was struggling a bit. As we looped through the historic village for the third time Brian started to pull away from me. I let him go as I just tried to maintain the current pace. Eventually he would finish a little over a minute ahead of me. I concentrated on trying to keep my pace under 10 minute miles. By the time I hit the dirt road on the return I was broiling and my legs felt like lead. I could see the finish line in the distance and I kept putting one foot in front of the other. Turning off the course towards the finish I was just concentrating on keeping my head up and powering through. Crossing the finish line at 1:30:47 I had managed a 9:47 minute per mile pace for the 9.3 miles. Decent effort although it wasn't as easy as it is some days. I also may be postponing that 13.1 mile run i had planned for tomorrow.

NREMT-I Written Exam

2011-10-15T20:51:00.000-05:00

This post has been a long time in coming. I took the Emergency Medical Technician Intermediate course from October 2010 to March 2011. Once I passed the class I took and passed my National Registry practical (hands on) exam. I posted about that back in April http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2011/04/nremt-i-practical-exam.html .

So I was on a roll and apparently over confident. I scheduled myself for the written test in April but I didn't bother to study. My first attempt at this test was a dismal failure I failed to achieve a passing score on any of the 5 sections. This was a wake up call, I can literally count on one hand how many exams I have not passed in my life. Well ,plus 1one.

So I procrastinated a bit and then scheduled another try in July. I studied but due to the fact that failure was unfamiliar to me I apparently suck at that as well. I failed again because I did not pass 2 out of the 5 sections. This test was becoming Moby Dick to my Captain Ahab.

Meanwhile I had a chance to attend the Advanced EMT course at no cost, so I jumped on it. I figured if I eventually passed the Intermediate test it would be an easy bridge to AEMT and if I didn't then I would go directly to Advanced EMT. So the Intermediate test was put on the back burner. That is until I discovered that if I passed the test I would not be required to complete all the clinicals for AEMT. This was huge as time is almost more precious than money to me. It would also save me from being required to take 2 days of vacition to get some of the clinicals done.

So in October I once again scheduled myself for the written test. This was my third and final chance. If I failed it this time I would be required to finish all the clinical time as well as I would have to attend a 36 hour refresher course before being allowed to attempt the test for a 4th time. Lots was riding on this. Two days before the test I studied harder than I had studied for any test lately to include all the tests i took during my graduate studies.

The night before the test I was working an overnight shift at one of the ambulance services I run with. Although it was a quiet night I didn't get much shut eye. So I was anything but well rested the next morning. I showed up to the testing location for my test and started the check in procedure. These testing locations are tighter than Ft Knox. You have to check in with two goverment issued picture ID, then they take a biometric palm scan and your picture.. You have to empty all your pockets, take off all watches and bracelets. This stuff gets locked in a locker. Then you have to walk down a hallway and check in to the actual testing room. They take another palm print and verify your ID again. They have you turn out your pockets to prove they are empty and they give you any test materials or note taking items you may be allowed to have. Each individual computer has its own individual pan tilt zoom camera looking down on your testing cubicle.

The National Registry tests are "adaptive", which means it starts out hard then keeps asking you questions based on the previous level you answered until it is satisfied you know the material. It could stop at 65 questions or go to 135. It's a crap shoot, also even though I had taken the test 2 other times it was not like taking the same test 3 times, it was like taking 3 different tests.

Well I started answering questions and as before, some I knew for sure and some I thought I knew and some I had no idea. I mean who needs to know if an ambulance with a detached cab is a type II or III? The question count kept climbing and eventually I got to the maximum of 135 and the test shut off. This could mean good news or bad news, I did not walk out to the test facility with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I had no idea how I did.

For the rest of the day I was afraid to check the NREMT website to see if the results were posted. Finally about 1400 I pulled the website up and held my breath as I entered my name. Low and behold the words congratulations and successful were attached to my name. Well I was on cloud nine, my attention span was short for the rest of the day to say the least. I had killed Moby Dick!!!

So mission accomplished and now my focus has shifted to passing the AEMT course and National Registry in December. Stay tuned for updates.

Happy Birthday Sparrow

2011-10-01T19:58:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow is my Wife's Birthday. She is the best. I think I said it all last year in this post. http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/10/married-to-me-appreciation-day.html

Thanks Sparrow for another great year. Love You

Quad Cities Marathon Relay 2011

2011-09-27T21:16:00.000-05:00

So last year I ran this Marathon and wrote about it here: http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/09/quad-cities-marathon-2010.html . This year however I was asked to be a member of a relay team. Never having been a member of any sort of relay I decided it might be fun. Unfortunately I think I missed out on a lot of the relay experience due to the fact that prior to the race I hurt my left foot and couldn't run for over a month. Also due to my work schedule I couldn't meet any of my relay team members until race day itself. I think it would have been more fun for me if I could have participated in the group training runs leading up to the marathon. That being said it was still a good time.

So on race day I woke up at 0400 and drove the 100 miles to the start line. Much like the previous year my pre race breakfast consisted of a bottled water and some Little Debbie Donuts. I met and was introduced to my team members outside the packet pickup and was given my race goodie bag. Once again the Tshirt was an excellent one. This race gives out the best shirts.

As I was going to run the first leg I went back to my car and got geared up for the race. It was overcast and threatening rain but it hadn't started yet. I hit the porto potties just prior to the 0730 start. I joined the 10,000 or so other runners at the starting line and I tried to worm my way up to the 9:00/min per mile marathon pace group. My plan was to hang with them until my hand off to the second leg at 6.6 miles. Unfortunately I couldn't get any closer to them than a good look at their sign. After the prerequisite words of wisdom from the local dignitaries a large Civil War cannon signaled the start of the race. I was so far back it took me 2 minutes 15 seconds to actually cross the start line.

I immediately started pushing myself in a effort to catch the 9:00 minute pacer. Unlike last year when I started out slow and stayed with my pace group this year I wove in and out of other racers trying to get some clear space to run. I was passing people left and right in the jostling crowd and every time I passed someone with a relay sign on their back I wondered how many more where a head of me. After about 3/4 of a mile we headed up an on ramp to I74 and crossed the Mississippi River as we headed north on the one lane closed to traffic. As the thousands of us ran across the bridge it swayed and bounced with the rhythm of our steps. I was forced to slow down crossing the bridge as we were all jammed into the one lane and their was no room to pass anyone. After we crossed the Mighty Mississippi we took the next off ramp which must have been at about a little over a mile as I had been running about 12 minutes.

From this point on my mission was to find other relay runners and reel them in. I could have jogged as I knew we where never going to win anyway but Action Guys don't jog,not even Former ones. So I continued to push myself. From mile 2-4 there was a huge hill that was certainly there last year but I had totally forgotten about. This hill sucked my will to live as I tried to keep moving forward. I caught up with and ran with a friend of mine Brian T on this hill but eventually he faded back a little. He was running the half marathon and had to pace himself a little better than what I was doing. I continued to try and keep an even pace as we crested the hill and took a right. Once again we were running on a fairly flat surface until we started heading downhill.

I tried to stretch it out until we reached the bottom and took another right that headed us back up hill again. We continued this pattern of big ups and big downs for the next several miles. The whole time I was cussing myself for not running more prior to the race, for agreeing to the relay, and trying to gasp for air like a fish.

At the bottom of the last large hill we once again turned right and ran about 2 miles along the Iowa side of the Mississippi on a bike trail. It was hard to gauge my pace for certain as they didn't have the course marked every mile but it was marked about every 2. I figured I was somewhere around my goal of 9 minute miles. I also had a goal to finish under an hour. At 54 minutes I hit the 6 mile mark, I could taste the transition point from here. I tried to hold a steady pace and as we meandered left I saw the cones marking the spot. I took off the bracelet that was acting as our baton and passed it to my team member that was running the second leg at 59:51. This turned out to be a pace of 9:04 per mile. I figured I had done my part. All I could do was wait.

I grabbed some water and fruit and waited a few minutes talking to anothermembers to finish. Once I got back I changed into some dryer and warmer clothes. I wandered around and ate some free hot dogs and chili, listened to the band. I talked for a long time to TJ and her boyfriend. After about an hour Brian showed up after finishing his race. We talked for awhile then it started pouring rain. I felt bad for the people still out there running but I was glad it wasn't me.

After about 4 hours I headed to the regrouping point for the relay. I met up with my team members from the other legs and we all ran in together with our final team member. Our team finished the race in 4:36:49.

Thoughts on this race:

Due to my injury and lack of training I was happy I hadn't signed up for the full or half marathon as I probably wouldn't have finished.
It felt really weird being at a marathon and not being IN the marathon if you know what I mean. Not sure I liked that.
I think relays would be more fun with people you know

All and all mission accomplished though, maybe next year I can get all my kids to participate, now that would be fun

Happy Birthday Mother-From Your Only Child

2011-09-13T19:13:00.000-05:00

Today is my Mother's Birthday. What do you say or give to the person who gave you life? Kinda seems pointless somehow. Life, how can you possibly top life?

My Mom had 6 children and currently has 12 grandchildren. I am the oldest so I along with my sister who is one year younger, got the benefit of the mommy experimental years. I got to wear the homemade shirts (pretty snazzy) and rock the jagged cutoffs (so they wouldn't fringe,hello Mother that was the point).However I also got to ride my bike anywhere I wanted, catch ground squirrels in the park and play hide and seek with the other kids until way after dark. My Mom worked full time as a teacher so I learned to cook at an early age to help take care of my younger siblings. We also joke that this is a survival tactic as the only temperature setting on the stove my Mother knows is High. I went through most of my formative years eating stuff that was charred on the bottom and cold on the top. Don't take it personal Mother, you helped produce some awesome cooks and we never went to bed hungry,not one day. My Mom taught at the same high school I graduated from so when I was in high school I got away with nothing, not one thing. I gave up trying eventually. Thanks for getting me educated Mom ,when I could have been goofing around or smoking weed in the parking lot like some of my buddies.

The unique thing about my Mother and the thing that is often commented on is how she treats each and everyone of us as if we are the only child/grandchild she has. It is an amazing process. I still don't know how she does it. She pours her entire energy into each and every situation, and she makes you feel like you are the favorite. Which you are, until your brother calls and she does the same for him. People that don't understand my Mother may call her pushy,demanding,nosy. I call that knowing what needs to get done and not caring how she accomplishes it. She rarely cares what anyone thinks about her. She sets out with a goal and pushes and pushes and pushes until it is accomplished. She does this because she cares deeply about her children and grandchildren and wants the very best for them.Nothing is more important than family to her, and if you don't get that, she figures your not worth the time it would take to explain it.

This attitude that I got from her, got me through a 22 year military career. It got me through Airborne School,Ranger School, The Special Forces Qualification Course, and many many other "gut checks." It followed me into combat and training. This attitude helped create a family of successful productive citizens who love their country. This attitude produced a career military man, a high school teacher, a civil engineer, two sheet metal workers, and a secretary. This attitude produced masters degrees, bachelor degrees journeyman,foreman, welders , emergency medical technicians, law enforcement officers, sports officials, and coaches. This attitude produced wrestlers,basketball players, golfers, and football players. This attitude produced scientists,writers, illustrators, bakers, and leaders. This attitude showed children what they can do not what they can't.

What do you give the person who gave you life? You give her a life back, 18 successful lives.

Happy Birthday-Mother from your only child

KILTED TO KICK CANCER

2011-09-06T20:02:00.000-05:00

As a member of the US Army Special Forces or "Green Berets" I spent alot of years doing alot of things that most would call "high speed." To me it was business as usual, and this was generally the attitude of everyone in Special Forces. We prided ourselves on being "Quiet Professionals" and letting our actions and accomplishments speak for us. But our pride in not beating our own chests about our manly deeds actually has proved to be our undoing. In the fight for a section of the government defense budget he who speaks loudest gets the moolah. Sure we hear about Green Berets but who wins the public relations battle? That's right the NAVY SEALS!!!! Are they better than Special Forces? I doubt it, but that debate could go on for hours and is not my point . My point is the SEALS win the image battle hands down. One Bin Laden equals 500 "top Al Qaeda" operatives.

So what does that have to do with Cancer you ask? Prostate Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, behind only lung cancer, however Breast Cancer awareness is the Navy Seal's of cancer fundraising. The PR campaign that has been unleashed on behalf of breast cancer awareness dwarfs anything done by any other organization. Who doesn't want to "SAVE THE TA TA's?" This is a worthy campaign however I ask you to consider prostate cancer. 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. My own Father is a prostate cancer survivor.

Paramedic Kelly Grayson has started a campaign on his blog to raise the awareness of prostate cancer. To this end he has challenged all of us to join him in a contest called "Kilted to Kick Cancer." The rules can be found on his blog http://ambulancedriverfiles.com/kiltedtokickcancer/ . In a nutshell Kelly is asking us to wear a kilt during the month of September, in an effort to raise awareness of prostate cancer. If you don't blog or just want to donate please consider making a donation to my link in the upper right corner of my blog. Take the money you would have spent on a kilt and donate to prostate cancer donations go straight to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Make a donation, wear a kilt, be a "Quiet Professional."

9/11

2011-09-04T17:34:00.000-05:00

9.11.01 has become a symbol of many things to many people in the last ten years. But what it undoubtedly has become to many of us is the "where were you moment?" of the rest of our lives. Many people in an older generation often remembered where they were when President Kennedy was shot ( I was 2 months old not sure where I was) or what they were doing on Dec 7 1941 "a day that will live in infamy."

My experiences on Sept 11 2001 are unique to me but probably mirrored the confusion and sense of helplessness that was felt by people all over the United States and the world. On that day I was a newly appointed Team Sergeant for a Special Forces Military Free Fall ODA in 10th Special Forces Group. I had recently done a permanent change of station move from the 1st Battalion of 10th Group in Stuttgart, Germany to my current station of Fort Carson Colorado. My team was conducting a 72 hour isolation exercise at the Group ISOFAC (isolation facility) in preparation for a training mission to Montana. On that morning I had sent the rest of the team to eat breakfast at the mess hall while I stayed behind to guard our equipment and plan for the free fall jump we were going to conduct into the training exercise.

Sometime after 0900-0930 my team members started filtering back into the ISOFAC and started telling me about news footage they had seen of a plane flying into a building in New York City. At the time I imagined it was a small plane of some kind that had been involved, this sort of thing was not unheard of. Being in the ISOFAC by design we were cutoff totally from outside contact, that was part of being in isolation. So between my teammates somewhat jumbled story of what had happened and the fact that I had not actually seen anything myself, I really didn't think it was a big deal. Just another tragic accident.

We continued to plan for our mission brief back until sometime later our Company Sergeant Major entered our isolation bay and told us that the training mission was cancelled and to gather all of our equipment for a return to the Company area. He didn't have much information, just that trucks would be here soon to get us and that there had been some kind of attack in New York City. We gathered our equipment and personal kit and started speculating on what was going on. Eventually some trucks showed up and we loaded them up and walked back to the company area. We saw other teams that had been in isolation doing the same thing.

When we arrived at the company an organized chaos was occurring. Things were not totally out of control because the military has a routine and a structure. The organization will continue to operate, moving forward even in the midst of confusion. What was missing at this particular moment was information. As we unloaded our gear back into the team room I still had no idea what had happened. After we got our gear in the team room the Company Commander called a meeting of Team Leaders and Team Sergeants in the conference room. When we sat down around the table we could see that something was very wrong. Our CO told us that there had been an attack on the World Trade Center in New York City by an unknown assailant or group of assailants. He told us that 2 planes were involved and the Trade Center was in flames (actually I found out later by this time they had already collapsed). He said they would be shutting down all access to the Post except for one gate and that all people entering would be subject to a thorough search. All schools on post and in the area were also dismissing immediately. He then told us that we until we got further orders that we could dismiss our team members for the day so they could take care of their families.

Like many others my main concern was for my children. As I mentioned before we had moved to Colorado less than 2 weeks before and we were still staying on post in temporary quarters. My wife and son were in our room at the BEQ but my daughter had started her first week of school. She was at an elementary school off post and it was my mission to go get her and get her safely back on post. I hurriedly called my wife to see if she was OK and she started to tell me that she was watching the news and that planes had destroyed the World Trade Center and also hit the Pentagon.She said that there was video of people jumping out of the buildings to escape the flames. I told her to stay in the room and I was going to get our daughter and I wasn't sure what would happen next.

As I drove our mini-van out of the Group compound I could see they were already stringing concertina wire across the compound's avenues of approach and troops with squad automatic weapons and M240B machine guns had parked Humvees in the road,creating road blocks. Contingency plans were already being set in motion. I raced towards the south gate not sure if I would even be allowed to exit. Meanwhile MP's and other soldiers where stationed on the side of every road facing out in a defensive posture. I exited post with little issue and made it to the school. I parked and went inside to pick up my daughter who was waiting at the school office. The school was as chaotic as you would imagine with all the military and civilian parents trying to find their children and get them safely home. Once I got my daughter in the van I headed back on the short 2 mile drive to the gate I had just exited.

However traveling this 2 miles would take me the next 5 hours of my life. Almost immediately upon turning on to the road that went back on post we came to a halt. Then we inched forward literally a few feet every 20-30 minutes as traffic was funneled into one lane and each vehicle underwent an exhaustive search of it and its occupants. I won't bore you with the details but just imagine if you will listening to conflicting radio reports for hours while trying to entertain a bored 3rd grader in a van on a warm September day. Throw in the fact we had no food and water and things became very interesting. Eventually it was our turn to be searched. Suspicious MP's checked my ID even though I was in uniform and asked my why I was coming on post. I told them my story of picking up my daughter and the fact the rest of my family was in temporary quarters.They then proceeded to tear apart every inch of my vehicle utilizing dogs and mirrors to check inside,outside and underneath for bombs. After about 20 minutes I was allowed to proceed and I made my way straight to the room. The reminder of the day is a blur as I tried to procure some food for my family who was living out of a suitcase. At the same time I was trying to find out what was going on back at the unit.

We fell asleep from exhaustion later that evening and the next morning I woke up to find school cancelled. That was a good thing as I had no idea if I would be able to take my daughter there anyway. For the next week or so I reported to work and returned home. No training, no jumping, nothing was happening as there was a moratorium on flights and guidance was slim. Rumors abounded of deployments and operations to be assigned. Eventually 5th Special Forces Group took the fight to the enemy in Afghanistan. By November my team was in Uzbekistan conducting counter terrorism training with the Uzbek Spetnatz. For the next 3 years, until I retired, the events of Sept 11 would plunge me into a cycle of deployment and refit that had me visit Uzbekistan,Kosovo and Iraq.

On Sept 11 2011 I will remember where I was and all the things that happened to myself and my teammates because of that day.

Doldrums

2011-09-01T20:31:00.000-05:00

As happens occasionally I have hit a ho hum period in my life. Or more specifically I have hit the doldrums

doldrums [ˈdɒldrəmz]

the

1. a depressed or bored state of mind

2. a state of inactivity or stagnation

3. (Earth Sciences / Physical Geography)

a. a belt of light winds or calms along the equator

b. the weather conditions experienced in this belt, formerly a hazard to sailing vessels

I was going great guns until about July. I had a great winter training season and had run personal bests in 5K's and other races. I was planning on finishing a 50 mile Ultra marathon. I was also moving ahead in my career in both my full time and part time jobs. My boss quit in April and I was encouraged by his boss to apply for his job. It seems like I had a good shot at it. I passed the course to upgrade my emergency medical technician rating as well as the practical exam and all I had to do was pass the written test.

Then things started slowing down, I had to take on the job of 3 people at my full time job as I covered for my old boss,myself, and one of my employees that was fired. This caused me to become very reactive instead of proactive. It also has made me irritable and stressed. And oh by the way after leading me along for 4 months and letting me keep the ship afloat they hired someone else to be my boss.

I took my EMT-I written test not once but twice and still need to pass it. I have one more shot before I will need to redo at least part of the course. I usually never ever have issues with written tests but I am very gun shy of this one now. It is almost a phobia, the damn thing has me spooked. if I don't pass it I am out over 600 dollars though. Each time I take the test it costs me $100 as well.

I did not finish the planned 50 miler as chronicled here http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2011/07/dances-with-dirt-50-mile-ultra-some.html . Shortly after this I injured my foot and then my knee started acting up. This is the same knee I have had surgery on but it has been fine for the last 2 years. Basically haven't run the whole month of August. I have had to cancel 3 races and a few more are in jeopardy. Running is what keeps me balanced so not being able to run also makes me grumpy and out of sorts.

To top it off I had a very irritating season as a baseball umpire. For some reason the coaches just seemed extra unreasonable this year. It is making me seriously reconsider whether I will be officiating after this wrestling season. I also haven't even felt like posting on this blog, as is evidenced by my low number of posts in the last few months.

I am having a birthday in a few days and I just don't feel like I am moving forward. Moving forward is something I need to continue to do, my personality demands it. Just the fact that I am whining in this post shows how much I am off my game. Normally I would fight through the ambush and just deal with adversity, somehow right now at this time I just don't have the energy for it. I alternate between being angry, hopeful,motivated, and resigned.

I need to get my injuries fixed,rededicate myself to work, pass my test and refocus. I know that's what I need to do just don't know when it will happen. Thanks for letting me vent if your still reading.

Pineland

2011-08-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

Late in the fall of the year 1990 I participated in the liberation of Pineland. Pineland is a country whose boundaries coincidentally exactly match those of the Uhwarrie National Forest in North Carolina. What is not a coincidence is that this country is liberated several times a year by student “A” teams from the Special Forces qualification course. These students along with their “G’s” liberate the oppressed peoples of Pineland and have been doing so for over 50 years. It was my turn as a member of class 8-90.

Having finished phases 1 and 2 which were the common skills and military occupational specialty phases the students in my class once again came back together to form student “A” detachments. We parachuted into the fictional country of Pineland via CASA 212 aircraft and hooked up with our auxiliary and made contact with the guerilla forces we would be organizing and training to overthrow the despotic government of Pineland.

Our infiltration was delayed by the fact that one of my classmates was killed during the parachute jump and all activity went “admin” until they had the situation under control. We as students didn’t get to hear much until after we were extracted later on but apparently he broke his pelvis while conducting a tree landing. The pain was so bad he released his leg straps before the chest strap on his parachute harness and hung himself on the chest strap.

We found this all out later, as we spent the immediate 12 hours after infiltration being led hither and yon through the North Carolina countryside by our guerilla guide. Eventually we stopped and established a patrol base. The next morning we hooked up with our “G”s. Normally these role players would be made up of support troops from COSCOM or some other Ft Bragg unit with the G chief being a experienced Special Forces operator. In our case however our G’s consisted of local town’s folk because with Desert Shield going on over in the Middle East, soldiers were in short supply. In retrospect I almost think this was better as I got the full effect of teaching weapons and tactics to a bunch of individuals that had no clue what I was talking about initially. We spent a few days in the woods drilling them until we decided it was time for our first mission.

Our first target was a confidence target where we ambushed a squad of OPFOR (opposing forces), you should have seen the grin on my M60 gunner as he let the bullets fly (blanks of course). He was about 12 years old and he is probably still talking about it. Shortly after this ambush our auxiliary decided to test our “loyalty” to Pineland. As a token of their esteem they presented us with a live possum in a sack. They insisted it was a delicacy and that we should eat it. After they left we had a long and heated discussion about the best way to cook and eat a possum. Unfortunately no one in our squad had ever eaten one although we all had skinned various animals before. Well our discussion was all for naught as the damn possum managed to escape from the sack and when we went to get it was looking down at us from the top of a large pine tree.

Later that night the auxiliary sent some guerilla fighters to pick up myself and the student team leader for an “area command” meeting. We left the rest of the team and our guerilla force manning the perimeter as we marched up the red dirt road to the edge of a clearing in which a house set. They then pulled sandbags over our heads to blindfold us and stuffed us in the back of a pickup truck. They drove around for about 45 minutes in an effort to confuse us but I managed to sneak a few peeks from under the sandbag and could see that we were just driving in circles up and down the same dirt roads. Eventually we parked in the yard of the house we had originally started from. I nudged my team leader and whispered to him that we were only about 100 meters from our original start point shortly before they took the blindfolds off and marched us into a darkened garage.

Inside the garage were about 15 bearded and scruffy looking freedom fighters sitting around a large card table. Hanging on the back wall was a large Pineland flag. Sitting on the table was a bunch of candles which provided the only light. The leader of the auxiliary motioned for us to sit and then introduced all the various guerilla commanders and auxiliary dignitaries. He then proceeded to interrogate us on our loyalty to Pineland and what were we going to do for them.

We talked about the training and missions we had conducted up to that point. We assured them that we had every intention as representatives of the United States military to see that Pineland was liberated. We then spent about an hour haggling over the amount of money they would be paid for their assistance, with the auxiliary trying to soak us for more and more of a bribe. These role players had the advantage as they had been doing this for years and probably knew down to the penny how much Pineland “don” that student A teams where issued upon infiltration. Trust me they were trying to get a hold of all of it.

Eventually the talk turned to our possum and the delicious meal they had provided us. It was made very evident by gestures and body language that it would be taken as a grave insult if we had not eaten the gift. So what was a novice Green Beret to do in this situation? Well I looked them straight in the eye and lied my ass off. I talked in vivid detail about how we prepared the possum and consumed its every delectable morsel. The auxiliary commander looked back at me and I knew that he knew that I knew that I was lying to his face. After a moment of silence he produced a jar of moonshine from under the table and announced that we would toast to the liberation of Pineland. As they passed around the jar I snuck a peak at the cadre/evaluator that had followed us to this meeting. I knew it would be disrespectful to decline to make the toast but I was also worried I would get in trouble for drinking while on duty as a student. Well once the jar came around to me I figured what the hell and took a long swallow of the white lightning.

After not drinking alcohol for quite a while and eating nothing but MRE’s for the last month, the moonshine went straight to my head. All I remembered for the rest of the evening was that they blindfolded us again and drove us around in the pickup truck before dropping us off right back where they picked us up. I stumbled back to my sleeping bag and slept off the booze until the next morning.

We continued to conduct missions, surveillance, ambushes and raids for a few more weeks until we were exfiltrated back to Camp Mackall for stand down and graduation. The intricacy of the exercise that is “Robin Sage” is too much to chronicle here but trust me when I say that everyone from the town police to the local librarian and everyone in between participates in this exercise when it is conducted. It is about as close to operating in a foreign country as you can get and still be in the USA. Several years down the road I found myself in some eerily similar situations when negotiating with Serbians and Albanians in Kosovo or Pesh Merga fighters in Iraq. It was then that I learned the value of this realistic training.

Dances with Dirt 50 Mile Ultra: Some days your the bug

2011-07-10T20:33:00.000-05:00

So bottom line up front I failed to accomplish my goal of completing a 50 mile ultramarathon. However like with everything I do I have a story. This weekend started Friday night when my support team assembled at the hotel in Lodi, Wi. I just want to say that those who came out to help me in my attempt were the absolute best support team ever,second to none. They did a better job during the race with encouragement and nourishment than the people actually conducting the race. Thanks Deborah,Matt,Jade,Tarrah,Dan,Casey and Jay,you guys made it fun.

So Friday myself and my brother Matt drove the 26 miles to the race start and picked up my race packet,number and timing chip. We also wanted to see how long it would take to get there. We determined based on our recon that we would have to leave the hotel at 0400 for the 0530 start of the race. Morning for some of the teenage elements of my team was going to come early. After returning we drove around looking for somewhere to feed the crew. Our choices were limited but we finally found a pizza place in a small town about 15 miles away. It was pretty good pizza and cheap enough. Upon returning to the hotel I laid out all my equipment and hit the rack at about 9 pm. I didn't have any trouble falling asleep and actually woke up at 0315 the next morning. I loaded everything in the van and then woke the others up. They all got up with a very minimum of griping which is always good when dealing with teenagers. Did I mention they were awesome? My sister Deborah arrived from Madison at 0400 and we were off to the race location.

The start/finish line was lit up with Christmas lights on our arrival. It was still dark but the sun rose soon enough as we waited for the race to start. I did all my pre-race preparations, attached my number and timing chip,hydrated, used the porto potty, and applied the pre race vaseline on likely chaffing spots. At about 0525 the call to the start was made and a 100 plus runners moved into position. Both the 50 mile and 50 kilometer (31 miles) ultras were starting at 0530 with the marathon (26.2 miles), half marathon (13.1 miles), and 10 kilometer (6.2 miles) starting between 0630 and 0800. We would all be running on portions of the same course so during the day I would see runners in all the races. I lined myself up at the back and waited for the gun to sound.

When the race started I hit the timer on my watch and my Garmin and started jogging forward, as usual at race start there was an accordian effect as we in the back had to wait for all those in the front to sort themselves out. I wasn't worried as it was going to be a long day and a lot of miles, I had the next 13 hours to stretch my legs. The course initially took us up the ski slopes of the resort the start/finish line was located at. I got a taste of how the day would be and how rough the terrain on this course would be, as for the next 4.5 miles I ran/walked up double black diamond ski slopes and through the woods connecting them. As we turned to head back down the footing was treachourous. The course ran straight down the face of a ski hill that had 2 foot high summer weeds growing on it. A path of sorts had been made as the runners followed the pink ribbons marking the course. By the time I hit this section the grass had been crushed down over the underlying rocks which made for very slippery footing. All I could think off was utilizing the "mountain walking" techniques I had learned in Alaska. I concentrated on making full contact with the entire sole of my foot with each step to create the friction necessary to keep me from busting my ass. The trail leveled out relative to what we had just been through and we hit the first aid station. My awesome team refilled my water bottles and I was ready to head out. I was trying to stay ahead of the hydration as it was already over 80 degrees with high humidity. My shirt and shorts were wringing wet with sweat even after this first section. The first section took me right about an hour to complete.

The next section headed us through a swampy area and then started climbing again. As I would find through much of the course there was no actual "trail." The lead runners made the trail as we ran through the woods, over logs, around head sized rocks, stepping over roots, always following the pink ribbons that denoted the Ultra route. The other races had other colors that sometimes shared our route and sometimes not. The route continued to climb and the elevation change was serious enough that I felt my ears pop a few times on the way up. My Garmin was trying to track the mileage but the foliage was messing with it and it lost signal quite a few times. As we reached the top of the ridge there was a small aid station with water at a curve in the trail. It was literally in the middle of the woods and I thanked the two volunteers manning it as I refilled my water bottles. Besides drinking water/gatorade I also was trying to eat a Clif bar or some Power shots every 30 minutes. I was carrying this food in a small fanny pack while my water bottle were on my hands attached with a special harness.

The course actually flattened out at this point as we ran along the ridgeline to the next check point. I ran most of this section as I had been forced to walk/run on most of the first two sections. I wasn't worried about this however as I knew that would happen on a race of this distance. The goal during an ultra is to always move forward.

At the 11 mile mark we hit the next aid staion and my team had some Gatorade and a few peanut butter sandwiches for me. I was still feeling pretty good and ate and drank for a quick break. I gave them my useless Garmin then I was off again to the next check point. The course still stayed relatively flat and even slightly down hill as we headed towards the shore of Devil's Lake itself. I was starting to get passed by runners quite regularly now as all the routes converged at this point. I looked at the color of their numbers howevr and could see I was holding my own against the other ultra runners and I must have been somewhere mid-pack. I had tripped over countless roots and rocks with both feet during the race so far but it was during this section that I hit a hidden rock with my right big toe so hard it brought tears to my eyes. I also cut my knee climbing over a log. As I hit the lakeshore aid station at mile 14 I stopped once again to refill my bottles. Doing some quick mental math I figured I was about 15 minutes ahead of the pace I needed to make the 25 mile cutoff time. As a safety measure the race organizers had set a time of 6.5 hours to complete the first 25 miles of the race. Those attempting the 50 miler that missed this time would be directed to finish the shorter 50 kilometer race instead. This was a reasonable precaution to keep from looking for people in the woods over all creation when it started getting dark.

Little did I know that the real race for me had just started. About a mile or so down the trail from the aid station we encountered a camping area we had to run though. It was at this point I got a little off trail missing a turn and running about 100 meters before I realized my mistake. I looked back and saw another runner making the turn so I headed back and got on the right route. We actually hit some paved roads for a short distance and then we encountered the first of what was to be two serious, serious elevation changes. The trail went almost straight up the side of this bluff with huge rocks placed as steps. I looked at the map later and this climb looked to be about 1000 meters of lung searing pain. Here is where my race plan started to unravel. As I started climbing my right hamstring started cramping and then my left as well. I tried to move off the side of the trail and try to stretch them out. I continued to down some water and walk them out but my pace had slowed considerably. Another runner offered me some electrolyte tabs and they helped alot. In 10 minutes or so I was feeling back to normal. We continued to climb and a runner I would pass and be passed by for the next 15 miles or so remarked how this reminded him of the "Golden Steps" at the top of Barr Trail on Pike's Peak. Having been on that trail myself we talked about it for a while. He had actually run the Pike's Peak Marathon on a previous occasion. Finally we reached the top and I started running the downhills and flats and walking the up hills as the trail followed the countour of the ridgeline.

At 17 miles we hit the aid station farthest away from the start. My support team was on the ball and once again refilled my Gatorade. I ate a PBJ, a banana and changed my socks. When I took my shoes off my feet were literally pruning from sweat. I noticed that both my big toenails had blood underneath from the tripping and the constant up and down pounding.The one on the right based on my experience was a definite goner and probably the left one as well. My team asked me how I was doing as they cleaned the cut on my left knee and applied some antiseptic spray. I admitted to them I was starting to cramp up on the uphills and I need to increase my electrolyte intake. After about a 5 min break I headed out on the course again. I was on pace to make the cutoff by about 10 minutes.

The next section started with a 2.4 mile out and back section on a dirt road. This wasn't too bad except for the two big hills on it. At this point I was still able to run and took the downhills as an opportunity to keep up the pace. We passed back through the aid station again and then took a right through a meadow and into the woods. Shortly after that we popped out onto the lake shore and followed a 1.9 mile trail that hugged the shoreline. This was probably the beginning of the end of my hopes to finish 50 miles. The majority of the race up to this point had been in the woods and it was fairly shaded but this section was totally exposed to the sun. The trail was also a popular tourist hiking area and so it was roughly paved although uneven. The combination of the sun reflecting off the asphalt/water and having to avoid all the pedestrian traffic along this area must have sapped my energy subtly with every step. I ran the entire section but it would come back to bite me later.

Once again we hit the lake aid station at what had been the 14 mile point the first time around. Now we around 21.4 miles and I was starting to wonder if I would make the cut off time. I had about an hour to make the 3.6 miles to the halfway point. On a normal day that would have been a piece of cake but on this day on this course it was a serious consideration. So after refilling the water bottles I headed back out on the trail.

Soon enough I hit the second serious climb of the race. Another 2.2 miles of rock steps and serious pitch. And once again my legs started cramping. I continued to tell myself to move forward and eventually they worked themselves out but it caused me to lose more time. Eventually I hit the top of the bluff, we were up so high that when I looked over the edge of the trail I got the same feeling in my legs I used to get when I did a lot of rock climbing and parachuting. There were quite a few rock climbers that had anchors points set up and were rapelling down the cliff face. I asked how their day was going as I ran by and they gave me a thumbs up. I hit the highest aid station on top of this bluff at mile 23.5, as I downed water I saw that I had 25 minutes to make the 1.5 miles to the cutoff at the 25 mile point. It seemed doable as the course now headed down off the bluff. As I headed down I started cramping up again on the steeper sections. I really had to alter my stride to keep moving. I started running scenarios through my head, weighing the options on what to do if I continued on. Would I make the cutoff time? If did could I even finish the race in my condition? If I made the cutoff and continued on what was my rescue plan if I had to stop? I really struggled mentally as I continued running down the mountain. My cramps seemed to have gone for now but blisters on my feet were starting to form and all the pounding was taking its toll on them as well. My pride told me I should continue the race but my common sense told me to call it a day. This is why I love these events, pushing yourself to the limit you learn what you are made of. Doesn't really matter what the results are its the journey that counts.

Ultimately the decision was made for me, I hit the checkpoint at mile 25 in 6 hours 31 minutes 18 seconds. That was 1 minute 18 seconds too slow to continue the 50 mile course. As I checked in they informed of that in the nicest way possible, I told them thanks but it was probably for the best anyway. Well although my hopes were dashed I now had plenty of time to finish the 50 kilometer race as I had suddenly went from having 6.5 more hours to run 25 more miles to having 6.5 hours to run 6 more miles. So I totally chilled for about 10 minutes. I drank water, chatted with my support team, ate a few more sandwiches and then headed out on what had now become my last leg. I told my support team I was probably going to take a while as my focus now was off the time and was shifted to just finishing a race.

I headed back along the same fairly flat to rolling trail I had encountered on the trip out. I was still able to maintain a running pace stopping to walk the uphills. I could feel my hamstrings twinge every time I ran downhill and I really was trying to take it easy on them. Eventually I hit the steep downhill section that I had climbed on the way out. My legs were just too shaky so not wanting to take any chances and fearing I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere and have to be rescued I started walking. I probably walked the last 2 miles downhill over the rocks and roots and trees. Once it flattened out I started running again at a slow deliberate pace, I knew I was close to the finish as I started recognizing some of the terrain. I heard the music at the finish line and picked it up as best I could. I rounded the corner out of the woods and into the meadow and everyone started cheering. I threw my water bottles off my hands towards my daughter and stopped to take a picture of the clock before I crossed the finish line. The clock read 8 hours 28 minutes and 34 seconds. It had taken me roughly 2 hours to travel that last 6 miles, but it was finished. As they handed me my finishers medal they asked me my age for age group awards. I just laughed and told them my age but not to worry about it as I didn't think it would be an issue.

My official chip finishing time for the 50K was 8:27:47.9 just as a comparison to show the difficulty level of this course here are some of my other recent race times. I finished a previous 50K last December during a blizzard here in Iowa in 7:21:42 on a much flatter course. In May I finished the Rockford Marathon (26.2 miles) in 4:29:50. What did I learn? Well I learned that some days your the bug and some days your the windshield. I learned next time I attempt his race I need to do more hill work. And last but most important I need to somehow get ahead of this cramping issue. I have had this issue on both Ultras I have done. I am taking a few weeks off from running to heal up. I am going to concentrate on riding my mountain bike and do some MTB races at the end of the month. As I write this my legs are extremely sore but I am already thinking ahead to my next 50 mile attempt. I will accomplish this distance before I turn 50 years old. I have 2.2 years to make it happen.

Alliant Energy/CVRA Races 5K

2011-07-04T21:27:00.000-05:00

So for something like the 15th time I ran the Alliant Energy 4th of July 5K. I haven't missed this race much in the last 20 years. I even managed to make it most years I was in the military. The 8K race is the premiere road race in the area with quite a few professional runners that show up for the prize money. I usually run the non competitive 5K however. I don't need the money.

This year the course changed due to some construction in the downtown area. Instead of a out and back loop from the downtown area it was an out and back loop from the Little Bohemia area of town that is south of the downtown area proper. This was good as it made the course over all flatter and faster, however it was bad because the course itself was more remote and the amount of spectators and spectacle was significantly diminished this year.

So I got up this morning put on my running togs and drove down and parked in the parking lot at work. I did this for two reasons, first I knew parking would be at a premium and second I wanted to get some warm up miles in before the race. So after parking I jogged the .75 miles to the start outside the Chrome Horse saloon. The Chrome Horse is a local establishment that is becoming somewhat of a sponsor for local sporting events. They sponsored the New Bo Fest Half Marathon last year and also the local mountain bike club (Linn Area Mountain Bike Association) has their board meetings there. Once there I saw a huge crowd of people waiting for the 8K racers to finish so the 5K could start. I guess the race organizers had counted on everybody running at least a 12-14 minutes pace for the 8K. This was not to be and even though the 8K had started at 0700 and the 5K was slated for 0815 we didn't actually toe the line until closer to 0830. So directly after the National Anthem we were given the word to move up to the start line. In an unusual move for me I decided to start closer to the front. In the past I have always hung out in the back and then once the race started picked people off. However I had been thinking that this was causing me unnecessary delays in the initial miles of the race and kept me from hitting my goal pace of 24 minutes.So I decided to head up front to see what would happen.

When the starting gun sounded I took off at a comfortable but steady pace. We ran a few blocks east before turning right and heading south along the Cedar River. Once we made the turn we were headed slightly up hill and I was passing people as I usually do heading uphill. As we crested the hill we started a long downhill section and I concentrated on lengthening my stride and taking advantage of gravity. This section was probably .5-.75 of a mile then we bore slightly to the right and dumped out on to the flat river road. This was also the first water stop and the one mile mark. At the one mile mark I had run a 07:37 minute first mile which was faster than I had run the first mile in a few years. Maybe my strategy was working?

As we headed towards the turn around I settled into a comfortable rhythm. I tried to breath evenly and not let the few people who passed me affect my own race plan. I also passed a few people and was in the top third of the pack as we made the u-turn at the halfway point. I made the halfway mark in 11:26. I was on pace for a sub 24 minute 5K and things were going to plan.

As we headed back along the course I could see the rest of the racers stretched out along the mile or so of the course that I could see. Somehow even though it was exactly the same distance seeing all those people made the return trip seem longer. I was starting to breathe a little labored and I could feel my pace slowing even as I tried to hold it steady. I hit the railroad tracks at the 2 mile point and started up the long uphill which had previously been the downhill, funny how that works. I had forgotten to look at my watch at the 2 mile mark but about halfway up the hill I looked and I was at 18 minutes.

I kept chugging up the hill not quite sure if I was slowing or it was an illusion due to the effort I was putting out running uphill. At the crest we now had a short down hill before making the left hand turn back west to the finish. At the turn as I saw the finish line about .02 of a mile ahead. I looked at my watch and saw it was going to be close hitting that 24 minute goal. I didn't speed up but I tried not to slow any further and once again tried to make my foot turnover quicker. I crossed the finish line and looked down at my watch, I had missed my goal by 34 seconds!! My time of 24:34 is still the fastest 5K I have run in the last 4-5 years and I have improved my time on every consecutive 5K in the last 2 years. I know this won't last for ever but for now it feels good.

Post race I grabbed a Gatorade and banana and then jogged back to my car. Total mileage for the day was 4.87 in 39:54 which will be my long run for the week. I am tapering for the 50 Mile Ultra Marathon I will be running for charity next Saturday. More on that next week but until then check out my donation page.
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/michaelmcelmeel/danceswithdirtdevilslake50mileultramarathon

Still here but on Hiatus

2011-06-30T22:22:00.000-05:00

Hi folks. I am sorry for not posting for an entire month. My life has been really crazy and the creative juices were just not flowing. I have some ideas in mind I will be writing about soon. Meanwhile checkout some of my other sites which I have been updating regularly.

Twitter: http://twitter.com/mikemac356
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-McElmeel/675689242
Tumblr:http://mikemac356.tumblr.com/
Dailymile: http://www.dailymile.com/people/mikemac356
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/mikemac356

Also I am running a 50 Mile Ultra Marathon in 9 days to raise funds for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Check out my page and consider a donation.

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/michaelmcelmeel/danceswithdirtdevilslake50mileultramarathon?fge=ask

Thanks for stopping by
De Oppresso Liber

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-30T19:49:00.000-05:00

Remember those that have went before and those still to come. Thank you to all those that gave the ultimate sacrifice and those that still guard the gates of freedom.

Here is my Memorial Day post from last year, not much more I can say:

http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/05/memorial-day-me-and-jerry.html

Rockford Marathon 2011

2011-05-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

After running the half marathon last year, see this post http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/05/fatslow-distance.html and setting a personal record I decided to make this marathon one of the two I will be running this year.

I couldn't have picked a worse weekend, it was 40-50 degrees and pouring rain all day Saturday. After driving the 3 hours to Rockford, I picked up my race packet and chilled in the hotel room watching the latest episode of Doctor Who on Justin.TV with the J-Man. Boochie took a nap until it was time to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings with her significant other and his parents. We had a pleasant dinner and she went over to his house to hang out while me an J-man returned to the hotel. Me being me, I laid out all my gear for inspection and prepped for the race by drinking lots of water and eating some ibuprofen. Between the strange bed,noises, and pre-race jitters I didn't actually fall asleep until midnight. The Boochie came back and I was awake again at 0100. So prior to the race I got about 4.5 hours of sleep as the alarm was set for 0530.

We woke bright and early and packed all our gear into the car in case misfortune would happen and we didn't make it back to the hotel before the 1300 checkout window. Surprisingly all the kids got up and even Boochie's boy friend arrived on time, so we were out the door by 0600. The race was to start at 0700 and even though we had some trouble figuring out where to park, I was still on line at the porto potties for the pre-race dehydration by 0630.Weather was surprisingly similar to last year. Even though the rain had stopped it was windy,overcast and about 50 degrees.

This race had pace groups similar to the Quad Cities Marathon, and I had such a good experience last time I decided to utilize a pacer this time as well. I was using this race as a training run for a longer 50 mile run I will be doing in July so I wanted to beat my pace from the Quad Cities but not kill myself. I had run a 4:44 in the Quad Cities so I decided to go with the 4:30 pace group for this adventure. That works out to 10:18 minutes per mile over the 26.2 mile course.

A few minutes prior to race start the played the National Anthem and then the gun sounded and we were off!! As we crossed the start line I hit my Garmin Forerunner GPS and fell in behind the pacer. Her name was Val and she was from PA. Over the course of the marathon I was to find out she had run about 10 marathons and many ultramarathons. As usual the first 5 miles were pretty easy, the pace felt slow but I knew it would get harder as we went. The only bother was we were headed directly into a pretty stiff wind. So stiff I had to turn my hat backwards to keep it from blowing away. They had changed the course slightly from last year but I did recognize several of the landmarks from the previous race.

There were aid stations and/or water stops at every mile marker and most also had more porto potties. This was good as I had to utilize them every mile for the first half of the race. Approximately mile 6 we headed back towards the start line and of course now we had a tailwind which was nice. The course wound along a bike path by the river which was very scenic. I was still feeling very strong at this point which was about the 10-12 mile mark.

We emerged from the bike path to hit the city streets again. Running about another .75 miles the marathon and the half marathon courses split. We said goodbye to all the half marathoners that had been running with us as we turned left up a steep hill. At the top of the hill we took a right and crossed over our previous route and headed west back through downtown. At this point the course would cross back over itself several times and we would hit some of the same roads we had run on previously.

Miles 13-16 were pretty uneventful as I still felt good. There were 4 of us counting the pacer in our group and we were all still holding conversations although the pauses were getting longer. We had noticed and commented on the fact that the mile markers seemed slightly off from what our Garmins were reading. Several of us had them and they all showed us about .25-.30 miles ahead of the official mileage.Val apologized for any discrepancy but she reminded us she had to pace to the mile markers and could not rely on the Garmins. She mentioned maybe we would be banking some mileage for the end.

Approximately mile 18 we lost our first casualty as a lady whose name I didn't catch dropped back and started walking. A little later on about mile 20 Vas, a gentleman who said he worked in a hospital and had recently lost 40 pounds started to fade and eventually we lost him. I saw him at the end and he did finish somewhere around 5 hours. So at that point it was myself,Val the pacer and another young lady from Muncie Indiana. She was running her second marathon.

Mile 22-25 were killer as usual. I think it must be some unwritten code amongst race directors that the last miles of a marathon must be in the loneliest,most godforsaken area available. Devoid of any human contact or encouragement, we ran down a bike path through a forested park. Conversation was at a minimum and I for one was concentrating on my pace and breathing. As noted earlier the mile markers seemed to be a little off. What this did was effectively put us at a faster pace than what we had planned. Approximately mile 24 I started to fade myself. it was requiring increased effort to maintain the same pace. It was at this point I decided I needed to run my own race. I reasoned this was a training run and I could still finish under my previous time for the Quad Cities marathon. So I slowed my pace slightly into something more comfortable. The pace group slowly widened the gap until they were still in sight but out of reach.

At mile 25 some joker decided that it would be funny to put a large hill on the course. I powered up this hill with the finish line in sight and took a left to head back down the hill. It was at this point I saw Val again. She had actually slowed down as she discovered what we had suspected, which was we were ahead of our goal pace. I caught up with her and as we rounded the last curve I saw my kids piling out of our car. They were carrying a the big pink sign they had constructed which said "GO DAD GO." They got an "A" for effort but I told them they needed a little more practice as a support crew. They tried to keep up with us but Boochie stopped because she was laughing so hard .Val and myself ran across the finish line together in 4 hours 29 minutes and 50 seconds.

All in all this marathon was a good time and a success. Not sure I will do it again next year as I want to try some different events. But you never know it might be a yearly event. Training for my Ultra starts tomorrow!!!

JTF-6

2011-05-08T20:28:00.000-05:00

One of Special Forces core missions is Foreign Internal Defense. FID as it is commonly known is where Special Forces teams will deploy and train an allied country’s armed forces in techniques and tactics. This is what SF has done in Iraq and Afghanistan with some of the police forces or militias. Back in 1993 missions of this type where few and far between, however one opportunity lay with Joint Task Force 6. JFT-6 was headquartered out of El Paso Texas and was a counter drug task force that utilized U.S. military members to assist law enforcement in the interdiction of cross boarder drug movement. Due to the restrictions of the “Posse Comitatus” statute

U.S.

military could not actually apprehend the criminals but we could conduct surveillance and train law enforcement.

So in 1993 my ODA was asked to conduct an MTT (Mobile Training Team) mission in conjunction with the Colorado River Indian Tribes Police Department. CRIT was headquartered in the town of Parker, Arizona. Parker was a small town located on the CRIT reservation that sat along the California border and the Colorado River. My team flew into the Phoenix airport then moved by rental vehicle to the reservation arriving in the early evening after about a 3 hour drive. We checked into our hotel and since we would be meeting with our liaison in the morning we decided to go out and see what the town had to offer.

As it turned out not much, and we ended up at the local watering hole “The Red Pony.” We walked into the dark smoky bar and after our eyes adjusted noticed we were obviously the only non-locals in attendance. Well this never stopped any of us before so we found a table and ordered a few pitchers. After about an hour, an obviously very intoxicated gentleman who introduced himself as Tyrone sat done and started to talk to us. Tyrone was Native American as most of the patrons where, and he started to pepper us with questions about who we were and what we were doing in town. Not knowing who we were dealing with, we gave him our cover story of being travelers on the way to Los Angeles. We offered him some of our beer, an invitation he happily accepted. Eventually he became comatose and some of his friends came over and helped us get him to his car. Since he was obviously in no condition to drive one of us drove him home and dropped him off.

The next morning when we reported to the police station lo and behold but who should greet us in the squad room but Tyrone! He was a member of the police department and would be one of the officers going through our training. Due to our friendliness the night before he was our self appointed liaison and protector for the remainder of our deployment. Once he and the other members of the force found out my wife was Native American we practically became honorary tribal members.

So we started on a planned 2 week training schedule of physical training, land navigation, shooting and tactics instruction. Every day we would meet at the police station and take the officers through physical training. Our Engineer Sergeant built them a pull up bar and cemented it in out front of the squad room. Officers were required to do 10 pull ups prior to entering the building. After some land navigation instruction we conducted a day/night navigation course out in the desert. These officers enjoyed this training so much that they designated our land navigation course as one of the selection criteria for the Tribal Special Reaction Team.

We also instructed them in tactics and building entry techniques. One of their main concerns was drugs being moved up the Colorado River and stored in “safe houses” on the reservation. Over and over again we conducted mock building entries until finally it was time for the culmination event. Half our team would occupy an abandoned residence surrounded by fields. They would act as drug dealers while the rest of us would conduct surveillance and eventually raid the residence as advisors to the police force.

Myself and one of our Engineer Sergeants would accompany the surveillance element, while the other Weapons Sergeant and one of our Medical Sergeants would accompany the assault element. Our Team Sergeant was on the objective with the rest of the team acting as bad guys. Our Team leader remained at the Police HQ with the Chief of Police to act as command and control.

So the Reaction Team paged itself out and under our guidance conducted pre-mission planning and rehearsals. After a successful debrief of the Chief of Police the surveillance element infiltrated via patrol car about 2 miles from the residence. This house was surrounded by wide open fields but there were several irrigation ditches that led to within a few hundred yards of the objective. It was one of these ditches we followed to within about 200 meters of the objective. We infiltrated just at dusk and the plan was to confirm the house was occupied and that there was reasonable suspicion to request a high risk search warrant. Our surveillance team remained on the objective throughout the night reporting back situation reports of any activity.

Our team members on the objective, that were acting as the opposing force, would randomly exit the structure carrying weapons or patrol around the property. Twice vehicles pulled up and cargo was offloaded into a shed and the residence itself. At roughly 0500 the ok was given to execute the search warrant. Our surveillance team switched responsibilities and became a support element as the assault team came down the gravel road laying down in the back of a pick up truck. We deployed the two police snipers armed with mini-14’s in positions of cover and concealment but where they had a clear field of fire. Being a training exercise these weapons were not loaded, however the assault team and the “bad guys” all had M16 and M9 pistols equipped with simunitions. Simunitions are similar to paintballs and by merely changing the receiver on individual weapons they could be utilized for live fire training with real time feedback. Oh and they hurt.

The assault pickup pulled to a stop in the driveway and the assault element piled out and stacked up on the front door of the residence. Announcing the warrant and getting no response they breached the door and entered the residence. We heard an exchange of gunfire from our over watch position and eventually saw our teammates being led from the house in custody. They were loaded in police cruisers that had arrived on scene after entry had been made and taken back to the Police HQ.

During the debrief it was determined that had this been an actual entry there would have been one officer down as a casualty and two of the “bad guys.” Good and bad points of the raid were discussed. The next day after an exchange of certificates and kudos we hit the road back to Phoenix to catch our flight to Massachusetts. It was training like this that kept our Special Forces teams sharp during the dark days of downsizing and general malaise in the military following the first Gulf War.

Jake and Zowie RIP 1996-2011

2011-04-20T19:09:00.000-05:00

Not sure where to start so I will start from the ending. At 1330 hours today my son took Jake into the Animal Shelter and had him put down. He has had that dog since he was 10 and it was probably one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. It was hard for all of us, to me it felt like we were giving up on Jake. That was the emotional me, the rational me said we lost our dog 3 months ago after his sister died and he had his first seizure. Since then he has been deaf,blind,incontinent, and he slept most of the time. Last week he had a seizure and blood was coming out his nose. We loaded him in the car then, but the shelter was closed so we brought him back home and he survived a few more days. Today he started howling in pain, that was the last straw. Zowie died in her sleep back in January and I knew it was only a matter of time for Jake. I waited to write this post until they had both passed.

So now let me start from the beginning, in 2006 we were living in Yuma AZ. Yuma Proving Grounds specifically as I was stationed there with the Special Warfare Center. Our previous dog, a beautiful Boxer, we had to give up for adoption because my wife was doing daycare in our home and the dog scared the kids.However being dog people we only went a few months and decided we needed a pet. One day when I was at work my wife and kids went down to the Humane Society to find us a new puppy. So when I got home from work, there he was, a cute little black furball that I instantly named Jake. After a few minutes of playing with the new puppy I noticed my daughter Jade had not come out to greet me. I called her name and from the back bedroom I heard her say "Nothing." When she was younger and she was only about 3 years old then, she used to say that when she thought she was in trouble. I knew something was up so I walked back to the bedroom and there was my 3 year old daughter hiding under the bed with another black furball. Being my normal understanding self I said "WTF, I thought I said one dog!!" But it was too late we had two and they named the other furball Zowie since she was female. As the story goes they entered the humane society and saw Jake in a kennel with the rest of his litter. My daughter picked him out and they carried him around checking the place out. Well when they passed back by the kennel ready to leave, there was Zowie all by herself, all her brothers and sisters were gone. My wife has a heart as big as the planet and she couldn't stand to see Zowie all by herself. So we got two dogs.

As they grew they developed personalities they would have for their entire life. Jake was the aggressive one, always the alpha male. Until he got older he would bark at everyone he met. I had to keep him away from other dogs for most of his life. Zowie was the opposite, the princess looking for attention. She would walk right up to strangers or strange dogs looking for a pet or a friendly sniff. Jake was a homebody and when and if they escaped our yard he would always return looking for some chow. Zowie however I used to call "Houdini dog" because she would escape and more often than not I would have to bail her out of the pound. I picked her up in doggie jails in at least 4 states and 2 countries over the years. They both mellowed as they got older but they remained the same until the last few months. I have memories I will never forget:

The time they escaped out apartment in Germany and Jake came back of course and we found Zowie with the help of our German neighbor down at the pound.A German gentleman had tried to catch them and Jake had nipped his hand before he ran off. It was just a scratch but the guy had it bandaged like he needed 30 stitches.

The time I drove them 100 Km to drop them off for their trip back to the states in the pet transport plane

Playing catch with Jake and his tennis ball (he used to love that)

The way Zowie would walk up and rub her head on your leg looking for a back rub, then when you did rub her back her entire hind end would waggle so hard she almost fell down.

The way, until the day he died, Jake would go outside in the morning and he would bark at the horizon as his

front paws lifted off the ground. I think it was his way of saying, "C'mon day bring it on!!"

Zowie would jump in your lap and snuggle like she weighed 3 pounds instead of 30.

I used to take them both running with me through the woods and fields when they were younger. I think they liked that.

The last few years they became more sedentary and spent most of the day sleeping on the living room floor or by the fireplace. Zowie just quit eating one day, we couldn't even get her to eat if we fed her by hand. About a week later she died in her sleep.It is like she just decided it was time. Jake had a seizure shortly after that and he was never the same. You know how he passed.

Jake and Zowie always together in life, and always together in our memories. Rest easy my friends, all dogs go to heaven. We love you.

Sylvan Island Stampede MTB Race

2011-04-10T16:22:00.000-05:00

So this weekend was pretty busy, after taking my NREMT practical yesterday,today I headed to Moline, Ill. for ironically enough the first race in the Iowa Mountain Bike Championship Series. The race was on Sylvan Island which is in the middle of the Mississippi river. It is about 100 miles to Moline from my house so Jessie and myself took off at about 0630 for the 0900 start. He slept most of the way and when we got to the island, we grabbed my gear and walked across the pedestrian bridge to the check in. After check in we chilled out and he took some pictures of the river etc.. It was a gorgeous morning about 70 degrees and sunny.

About 15 minutes before race time, the loudspeaker from the registration tent advised us to move to the east end of the island to get ready for the start. Once again this year I am competing in the Novice (Cat3) division. With as much riding as I do I will probably remain a novice forever. There was probably about 50 racers and like I do for must running races I went to the back because I figure it is easier to pass someone than to try to stay ahead of them. More on that strategy later. The starter gave a countdown from 5 then pulled the trigger on the starting pistol. As a group we took off down a gravel walking path for about 300 meters then took a right into the woods. The entire course was to be 8 miles long and would consist of 2 1/2 laps around the island. We would start with the half lap.

Since we were on an island,elevation change wasn't very significant but where the challenge came was the tight turns, roots, and rocks that littered the course. The island had formally housed a steel mill and you could see the remnents of loading docks and building foundations much of which we had to navigate as obstacles. This pretty much summed up the first half lap. I also discovered that I had made an error by starting in the back, I spent the majority of my time on that first part stuck behind a couple of slower riders with nowhere to pass. I eventually passed them however and was passed in turn by a different faster rider. For the first lap and a half this would be the pattern I would pass 2 or 3 riders and I would be passed by 1. So after the initial section the course dumped us back out on the same walking trail, I put it in high gear as this was a spot where you could make up some ground. I crossed the finish line and officially started lap number 1. These full laps started us towards the western end of the island which was more open but also flooded and hillier. I had fun trying to navigate the inclines directly after riding through a big mudhole or muddy section. I saw a couple big wipeouts in this section. I had a small advantage as I wear regular running shoes when I ride rather than clip in shoes. So the advantage was if I couldn't make it up the incline I could hop off and run up the hill, disadvantage was once my feet hit the mud the pedals became very slippery.

The last part of the full lap retraced the original section on the eastern half of the island, as I approached the start of the second lap I was happy to see I was still on the lead lap. Lapped riders didn't get to continue due to time constraints. I also saw my time was 1:39 for this first 1.5 laps. This second lap was more of the same, however I only passed one rider and was not passed by anyone else. Everyone had spread out quite a bit and pretty much settled into their pace. Being my second time through I was more efficient this second lap and was able to make it up and over some of the inclines that had given me issues on the first time around. I did get pretty muddy though as the course now was a quagmire in some sections. I saw a rider fly head over handle bars as he was racing downhill and his front wheel caught a particularly muddy spot.He was ok though and hopped back on his machine. I could smell the finish line once I hit the east half of the island and picked up my cadence. Once I hit that last 300 meters of flat trail I put it in the biggest chain ring and did my best to hammer it to the finish. I felt pretty good about the race, much better than my first race last year http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/04/decorah-time-trials-aka-suck-fest-2010.html

I finished in 1:08:04 official placing will be posted later.

NREMT-I Practical Exam

2011-04-10T15:22:00.000-05:00

So I took my practical (hands on) exam for my upgrade to Nationally Registered Emergency Medical Technician-Intermediate. This practical is one of the two culminating events that finalize everything I learned in my EMT-I class over the last 4 months. National Registry is a strange animal, I have already passed the course work at the Community College for EMT-I. As far as they are concerned I am done,however to actually work as an EMT-I I have to pass the national registry practical and written test. So I was a little nervous. I haven't taken a hands on test in about 4 years or since I took my practical exam for my EMT-Basic.

Last Thursday the instructor who taught our class was actually working with me at the Ambulance Service so she ran me through all the possible test stations (Thanks Mary). I wasn't totally confident though as test conditions are always different. On Friday night, before the test, I watched a bunch of youtube videos that showed other people going through National Registry stations. I woke up Saturday morning and as soon as I was conscious the test steps started running through my head, I guess I was a little tense. Anyway I took a shower, got dressed and made the 30 minute drive to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

When I walked into the testing area, I saw that there where about 60 people taking the practical that day. Most of these though were from the latest Paramedic class and they had different stations than the EMT-I's. There were about 10 of us testing for EMT-I. I checked in with the proctor and sat next to a few of the guys I had been in class with. I looked through the test steps again but I could definitely feel the old rush that I always feel when I take a hands on test. From the Basic Training Skills test to the Military Freefall Jumpmaster Personnel Inspection and all the others in between I would feel a mixture of nervousness and adrenaline. Eventually the National Registry representaive came out and handed everyone there test paperwork. We filled it out as she read the rules and procedures for the test. We then got in line to start the test.

How the test was organized for the EMT-I was we had to pass a trauma assessment station, airway management, intravenous cannulization, and a random basic skill. We would get in line and be given a plastic card that told us what station to go to next. So when I was at the head of the line the first card I got was the trauma station. This was the go hard or go home moment for me. This was the station with the most points,most opportunity for failure and the most leeway for the evaluator to be subjective. It was also the station I dreaded the most since when I took my EMT-B test I failed it the first time around and had to retest.

So I made my way down the hall hoping that I wouldn't blow the very first station of the day. I entered the room and the evaluator read me the instructions for the station. The scenario was a young lady who was a victim of domestic violence and I was to do a trauma assessment and treat and transport appropriately. What made it difficult was she was unresponsive and all moulaged up with several injuries to the face,abdomen and left arm. I started my assessment and interventions, I made sure I verbalized everything I was doing and asked the evaluator for any information such as vital signs or changes as I went along. I was in the zone and had tunnel vision on the victim, I was trying so hard not to miss anything. At one point my mind went totally blank, I started to panic a little not sure where I was at in my assessment or what the next step was. However, I took a breathe and suddenly my mind started working again. At the conclusion the evaluator asked me if there was anything else I wanted to say. I realized I had not called for additional help which was critical fail criteria. I blurted out " Advanced life support is in route since I never called them off!" The evaluator asked if I was done and I said yes. I left the room feeling pretty good about that station.

So trauma was the turning point and I got it out of the way early. I went through the next three stations fairly easily as they followed the check list in my mind. No subjectivity on the evaluators part you either did each step or you did not. Airway management was accomplished using a Combi Tube which is a blind insertion away device. The Combi is a tube you insert into the trachea to keep a patient's airway open. The basic random skill was the application of the Kendrick Extrication Device. The KED is a short semi-rigid backboard that is used to maintain spine control on a patient that may be seated in a vehicle or chair. My last station was the IV station which due to all the cross training I had in the military gave me absolutely no anxiety. When I was all finished I went back out to the lobby and waited for my results. I looked over the criteria for each station again and unless I was totally wrong I felt I had passed them all. Eventually the National Registry representative called me and asked if I had any issues with the test. While she was asking me this she had a little smile on her face. When I said no she informed me I had passed. I felt this enormous sense of relief as all the self induced stress just left my body. I thanked her, informed my classmates I had passed and walked out of the Hospital on cloud nine. I will be taking my written test next week and then I will be a Nationally registered EMT-I. That day was a good day.

My ipod: Story of my life

2011-04-04T20:44:00.000-05:00

So as most of you know I like to run, and as some of you know I like music. So when I got an ipod for my birthday last year what could be more natural than to put music on it for running? Now I like country music,blues,jazz, opera, and even native american powwow music. I like them all, a lot, but when your running you want something upbeat, so when I run, I run to rock and roll baby!!! During my weekly long run last Saturday I started day dreaming about the music on my playlist and why it was on there. I also do a lot of day dreaming while I am running. You can group the music on my ipod by different periods of my life.

High School:

I am a product of the late 70's and early 80's having attended high school during parts of both those decades. This was also the Disco era and the era of it's crazy,radical,and anti social counterpart Punk Rock.Being a young man raised in the Middle West to a middle class family I did what was normal, I rebelled against society. Or at least I thought I did. I was rocking the mullet (spray painted blue and spiked). I also liked to wear skinny neckties with t shirts. Safety pins and electrical tape were fashion accessories. Being weird was a badge of honor along with the myriad of small buttons on my jacket pledging allegiance to BLACK FLAG or the RAMONES. Gabba Gabba Hey was my anthem!!! I would constantly visit the "record" store looking for the latest vinyl.

These songs are on my ipod:
B-52s
Rock Lobster
Dance This Mess Around
Planet Claire

Ramones
We Want the Airwaves
I Want to be Sedated
Sheena is a Punk Rocker

Plimsouls
Oldest Story in the World
A Million Miles Away

Early Military:

After high school I joined the military and was stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division. I was in my late teens and early twenties. This was the period in my life where I did a lot of stuff and I mean a lot of stuff that should have killed me or got me arrested. Like Josie Wales said though" I was always lucky in the order of things." My roommate and best friend was from Southern California and he introduced me to the heavy metal hair bands of the 80's. I still think for pure rock mania these artists remain the best. This is the period when I fell in love with Judas Priest, Metallica, Black Sabbath and others. Nothing like listening to Ozzy at level 11 on your bitchin Reel to Reel tape deck while guzzling some brews.

These songs are on my ipod:
Accept
Balls to the Wall

Dio
Holy Diver
Rainbow in the Dark

Scorpions
No One Like You
Rock You Like a Hurricane

The 90's:

During the 90's I was a starting to establish myself as a career soldier. I also made the transition from infantry to Special Forces. It was during this period that my family was young. So I alternated between raising my children and perfecting my craft as a special operator. What goes on TDY stays on TDY wasn't just a saying it was a code of honor between brothers that I will never break. I started to get introduced to all sorts of "new music" as I spent spent many days and weeks crammed together with my team in isolation or on deployment. The "neu metal" and alternative rock that was making the scene like Nirvana and Limp Bizkit started making its way into my music collection.

These songs are on my ipod:

Veruca Salt
Seether

Kid Rock
Bawitdaba

Rage Against the Machine
Bulls on Parade
Fistful of Steel

Hole
Celebrity Skin
Miss World

The Cranberries
Zombie

The new millennium:

During the last 5-6 years of my military career my unit was constantly deployed and constantly at war. Bosnia,Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq where all places that were very familiar to us. If we weren't in a hostile fire zone, we were training to go to one or refitting from just coming back. We were finally honed killing machines, just to survive this period I became a very angry and violent man. My first reaction in any situation was to close with and destroy my adversary. Constantly moving forward, keeping the enemy off balance and seizing the initiative. Violence of action was something to be proud of. The music I listened too reflects this. It was also influenced by the immense amount of time I spent in Germany in particular and Europe in general.

These songs are on my ipod:

Rammstein
Du Hast
Asche zu Asche
Feuer Frei
Links 2 3 4
Reise Reise
Sonne
Stein um Stein

Slipknot
People=S**T
Wait and Bleed
Spit It Out
Duality

Korn
Freak on a Leash

I haven't found anything good to listen too since I left the military. It is almost like my interest in new music ceased at the same time as my status as an action guy. Maybe I will find something in the future but since I very rarely listen to music radio and I never buy CD's anymore I think I am stuck with the choices I have made. Every song has a memory though, I think Garth Brooks said that.

Passionately Purple Quest for a Cure 10K

2011-03-26T16:01:00.000-05:00

I decided to do this 10K because my race schedule had a hole in it for the month of March. I found it on kind of short notice on one of the running websites I peruse. It was the inaugural event to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and had 5K and 10K options. I choose the 10K because I am trying to keep all my runs above 4 miles in preparation for my May marathon. It was held in the town next to mine so it wasn't that far to drive.

I picked up my race packet the evening prior to the race,so I woke up the morning of the race and put my running togs on, got in the car and headed over to the start at Francis Marion Intermediate School. I arrived about 15 min before race time so I hit the sidewalks for a mile warm up to get the old knees lubricated. This was going to be my first race without my knee brace in probably 3 years. I am trying to wean myself of the brace as my knee now only hurts when I am through running not generally during an event. Got back at the start/finish line just in time to hear the announcements and then the National Anthem was sung by some local high schoolers. This was a really small race, it looked like less than 50 runners were there for both races.The temperature was about 27 degrees with no wind.

We got the command to start and I headed out at my normal training pace. I have been noticing that my average pace on training runs has been dropping, which hasn't happened in a few years, so that is good news. I started towards the back as always and slowly weaved my way through some of the other runners as we all started to settle into our paces. The first 6/10ths of a mile were on the same street the school was located on then we turned right and headed slightly downhill for a block or so then turned right again and headed back behind the school. By this time we had all spread out into basically single file and I started concentrating on running an even pace and slowly reeling in the runner ahead of me.

Approximately mile 2 we took a left and hit our first long hill, I passed a few people on the hill as I usually can keep a decent pass going up hill. We continued on through a neighborhood and the course was either downhill or flat in this portion. We passed the first water stop, but I didn't want any at that point. We turned back towards the north and headed back towards the start point about mile 2.75. It was at this point I got passed by 2 guys wearing blue. After they passed me I concentrated on not letting the distance between us get any bigger. We both continued to pass a few people as we hit the up and down rolling hills of the course at this point. Approximately mile 3 the 5K runners turned off and the two guys in blue slowed down slightly. I thought they were 5K runners but eventually they kept going straight along the 10K course. At this point I caught and passed them and then took a left and headed back away from the start.

The 10K course went down streets just off the main downtown area of town and eventually we hit another water stop at mile 4.5. I slowed to a quick walk and gulped down a cup of water. I picked it back up and about mile 4.7 we hit a steep downhill section. I hate those because, you guessed it, at the bottom we took a left and headed right back up the same hill. It was about 500 meters long and steep.My asthma was acting up during the race due to the wild temperature swings we have been having and the steepness of the hill just hit me the wrong way. I utilized my inhaler more than once which is unusual. So I had a little hiccup on this hill and my pace slowed down.It was shortly after the top of this hill that one of the guys in blue passed me, he had apparently left his friend behind. I kept him in sight for the rest of the race but was unable to catch him again.

After this hill, the course continued to head back towards the start and also continued to alternate between flat and rolling terrain. At mile 5.5 we started to retrace the start of the race in reverse. As we took a left to head back up to the street we had started on, my Forerunner GPS said 6.2 miles. I hit that in 52:30 which is 2.5 minutes off 10th Group standard but not bad for a former action guy. Well since 10K equals 6.2 miles and the finish line was nowhere in sight I was a little concerned about the course accuracy. We took a left back onto the original starting street and I could see the finish line in the distance. I finished strong in 57:07 and my GPS said I had run 6.77 Miles. I confirmed this with another runner whose GPS also had the course as being long. Something they can work on for next year but overall a good race. My pace for the entire race was 8:26 minutes per mile and for the 10K was also 8:26. I ran an additional distance after the race as a cool down and with the warm up ran a total of 8 miles at a 8:40 pace.

Douchebag of the Week

2011-03-16T20:34:00.000-05:00

As an EMT and a retired Special Forces soldier I have seen my share of douche bags. You know who I am talking about, the guys from suburbia who have there pants so low on their hips they walk like a frickin penguin or the hipster at Starbucks drinking their Latte while talking on their iphone and wearing their sunglasses indoors. My douche bag of the week is not any of those however; my douche bag is emergency medical personnel who think they are too cool for school (pardon the use of the way back machine for that expression.)

Don’t get me wrong I have always said that if it is black and has Velcro then it by default must be cool. However gear alone doesn’t make you cool it is what you do with your gear that makes you and the gear cool. Emergency medical personnel who show up at the scene with their 511 tactical pants, titanium trauma shears, and sunglasses and then can’t do a basic assessment just look like the ring leader of the ass clown circus. We used to call people like this a walking clusterfuck.

EMT-B Smith pulls up to the Ambulance garage in his Ford Ranger pickup with the EMS license plates and flashing white light, the white light denotes he is EMS but doesn’t allow him to drive any faster or ignore any traffic laws. Hey, having a light is cool. On his back windows are the Star of Life and the slogan “EMS saves Lives”. He hops out of the truck ready to spring into action. In the cargo pocket of his pants are his trauma shears in tactical black, 15 ink pens in case he runs out on scene or has to do an emergency tracheotomy and his ipod with a copy of the EMS field guide. His coat is a personally obtained Level 3 reflective coat that says EMT in big reflective letters on the back. That’s in case anyone forgot when he gets on scene. He has tactical communications in the form of his pager and handheld “walkie” so he can talk the lifeguard helicopter in or coordinate with medical control should he be the incident commander. He is wearing GSG9 Addidas tactical boots in the hopes that SWAT is in need of a helping hand.

When EMT-B Smith arrives on the scene he dons his medical gloves and heads straight for the patient, damn scene safety!!! The patient has an altered mental status, is lethargic and diaphoretic. The patient is showing obvious signs of a diabetic issue so naturally EMT-B Smith slaps a cervical collar on, backboards the patient and declares a trauma alert. Hey trauma is cool, medical issues take a backseat. PUHA or Pick Up and Haul Ass are the watchwords of the EMS douche bag. Lights and sirens are also cool. When EMT-B Smith gets to the Emergency Department he is much more interested in talking to the charge nurse about his exploits than giving a thorough report and handover. Did I also mention that patient blood pressure is always 120/80 for this douche?

When I was in Special Forces we called ourselves “quiet professionals.” It is not the loudest or the flashiest operator that you want on the objective but that quiet professional that is tactically and technically proficient and can get the job done. This can also apply to many other professions such as EMS. Be proud of who you are and what you have accomplished as an EMT. However let your actions speak for you not your attitude or the gear you wear. The world needs Emergency Medical Personnel we have plenty of douchebags.

Freezefest 5K Race

2011-02-26T15:25:00.000-06:00

This was my first scheduled race of the year, I haven't ran a race since the Hawkeye 50K that I did back in December. This was also my second year doing this race and I wanted to better my time from last year which was 26:44. I have been training for the Ice Age 50 mile ultramarathon that I will be doing in May so I have been putting in some longer runs. However I have been doing some speedwork at the indoor track and have been able to maintain an 8 minute mile for 3-4 miles. Don't laugh 8 minute miles for me is speedwork,it's not really about speed but about effort anyway.

Now I will get my excuses out of the way upfront. I ran a grand total of 4 miles this week prior to the race due to having the flu and generally feeling pretty low. The temperature has also changed drastically and it snowed last night. Wild weather changes usually make my asthma worse,so all in all not at optimum form for todays effort.

I pulled into the parking lot of the event and went into the lodge to checkin and grab my race packet. I was number 105 and I got the sweet red shirt that you see above. I say sweet because most of my race t-shirts are white it was nice to get another color for once.I walked back to the car and geared up for the race. The older I get the more gear I need for a simple run. Hat and gloves-check,sunglasses-check,race number-check,race chip-check, ipod-check, knee brace-check, and yak trax-check. Glad I wore the yaktrax because about an inch of snow had fallen and the roads were covered with some slickeryness.

I then went on about a mile warmup running pretty slow and taking pictures along the route. I did notice some pain in my bad knee but nothing unusual and I just chalked it up to my inactivity from the past week. When I returned to the lodge parking lot, I took the obligatory prerace visit to the porto potty and waited outside for the race to begin.

Right about the 1100 start time all 200 or so racers ambled down to the start and more or less seeded themselves according to where they thought they would finish. I put myself somewhere in the middle. We tried to listen to the starter who was talking through a bullhorn but I for one couldn't understand a word she was saying. Eventually she said the words I could understand, Runners Ready,GO!! (what happened to set? no one says set anymore.)

I started out pushing my pace a little based on my indoor times I was shooting to finish under 25 minutes for the race. We initially headed east and while snow covered the road was flat and wide, I was passing people and settling into my pace. My breathing however wasn't relaxed and I was gasping a little bit, no problem I just took a hit from the old vitamin O ( inhaler) and I started to breath a little easier. I knew I would be using the inhaler a lot in this race due to the weather change and trying to beat a specific time. A few hundred meters short of the first turnaround the race leader passed me going the other way. He was moving pretty quick as you can imagine. More runners up ahead started to pass me going the other way so I knew the turnaround was close, after a few minutes I saw it and picked up my pace a little.

Making the turn we started heading back down the same road now heading west. I was passing other runners myself as they continued east towards the turnaround. about 3/10ths of a mile past the turnaround was the 1 mile mark. My 1 mile split was 8:01. I am not sure if at this point I psychologically relaxed or if I just got tired. What I noticed is that I started breathing easier and now I was getting passed occasionally by some runners from behind. No one had passed me in the first mile. As we headed west we passed the start point and continued on down the road I continued to try and maintain my pace but I was still getting passed by a few runners and I was no longer passing others. It is this point in the race which was about halfway where separation usually occurs and people settle into their race pace. Just prior to the second turnaround was the 2 mile mark, my split for the second mile was 8:18 so I had run 17 seconds slower. A few hundred meters later we hit the second turnaround and headed back east along the same route. I could see the finish off to my left but we still had to run almost a mile before we got there.

I decided to try and run comfortably, and attempt to maintain my place in the race standings for this last part of the course. I pretty much accomplished this only getting passed by one person in the last .75 of a mile. Just about where the start had been was the 3 mile mark, my split for the 3rd mile was 8:17 so I was maintaining a steady pace. After the mile marker we took a right turn into the lodge parking lot and ran the remaining .10 of a mile to the finish. This last .10 was uphill which somewhat slowed me down ( excuse mulligan) but I attempted to power up the hill. Unfortunately I missed my goal by :38 finishing the race in 25:38. The good news is that I ran this race 1 minute 6 seconds faster than last year. Another good stat is that the times for my last 4 5K races have all been improvements. dating back to this race last year I have run 5K's in 26:44,26:22,25:46 and today's 25:38. So I consider this race combined with the awesome post race cookies to be a win.

Sarajevo, Bosnia 99

2011-02-07T09:03:00.000-06:00

In July 1999 I was a member of the 1st Battalion 10th Special Forces Group stationed in Boeblingen Germany just outside Stuttgart. During the last part of this month NATO decided to hold a Stability Pact Summit with many many world leaders in attendance including then United States President Bill Clinton. Security as can be imagined was a massive undertaking and the all call went out to our unit to conduct counter sniper activities. Every single sniper qualified individual in our unit something like 90 of us was deployed to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina for the summit. Each counter sniper team would have a shooter, a spotter and a commo man to operate the satellite communications. This deployment was an odd one as we generally knew when we would be back home and we weren't deploying whole Special Forces teams but only those individuals that had qualified as snipers through the Special Operations Target Interdiction Course. I would be going with only two other members of my ODA and a whole bunch of other battalion members.

On the day of deployment I drew my M24 (Remington 700) Sniper Weapons System, grabbed my gear and loaded a C130 for the relatively short flight of a couple hours to Bosnia. We landed at the Sarajevo International Airport and as we loaded our gear onto military vehicles I noticed all the bullet holes and shrapnel scars on the buildings on and surrounding the airport. During the war this area had been on the receiving end of a lot of artillery fire as well as some heavy fighting.

After we loaded all our gear we were trucked to the NATO/SFOR main base. They dropped us off at the base movie theater which would be our home for the next few days. They had set up hundreds of cots inside the theater and we all claimed one and spread out our gear. The rest of the day involved a lot of laying around and the obligatory tour of the local base exchange. Someone had neglected to tell the theater they were closed for the duration so that night I got to watch a movie while laying on my cot. The movie playing was The Mummy with Brenden Frasier. I have seen that movie a hundred times since then since it is one of my daughter's favorites, however my first time seeing it I was laying on a army cot eating popcorn in Sarajevo.

The next morning we packed our mission essential equipment and loaded into vehicles to be dropped off at our counter sniper positions. We would be deploying teams all along the motorcade route to look for any would be snipers or other problems. We were considered the outer ring of security, the inner security ring around the airport and at the summit site would be manned by the Secret Service and other national assets. Myself and my team were dropped off on one of the main streets downtown and told to find a hide site on the roof of one of the buildings facing north. We had been given our surveillance sector and our radio call signs back at the theater. We entered a likely building and climbed the stairs to the roof. The building was deserted and about 7 stories tall. It had a nice flat roof with a small ledge around the edges. From its roof we had a clear field of fire throughout our whole section of street to the east and west.

We started to improve our position as we would be there for the next two days. we had been put in place the day prior to the summit and would stay until its completion. I placed some sand bags on the concrete roof that I had been carrying to act as a platform and reduce the recoil of my weapon. While our commo guy set up the radio and made a situation report (SITREP) myself and my spotter made a range card of our sector. We used a laser range finder and plotted out all the major terrain features,buildings and likely hide sites and got accurate ranges to them so I could dial it in to my M24 if needed. One of the buildings we took a range to was the Sarajevo newspaper building which had been heavily damaged and from what I was told was left as a memorial of the war. It was a large multi story building and had been so utterly destroyed you could see right through it.

So for the next 24-36 hours we scanned the opposing rooftops and streets for any suspicious activity. Every 4 hours a SITREP was called in and we would switch of being "on" the gun every few hours. It had initially started out blazing hot and sunny but as the sun moved across the sky the clouds built up and it started to rain. We constructed some poncho "hooches" for shelter by bungee cording them between the antennas that sprouted from our roof. Occasionally boredom would over take us and we would spot a pretty girl and follow her progress down the street through our binoculars, we were in the heart of Sarajevo downtown and the streets were buzzing with activity. As the day wore into night we switched to night vision goggles and thermal imaging to continue our surveillance.

The next morning the sun came up and burned off the early morning mist that hung low in the valley in which Sarajevo sits. It was good to see old BOB (Big Old Ball) again as the night had been somewhat uncomfortable and chilly on the roof top.I whipped out my camp stove and brewed up some coffee and ramen noodles while I took in the scenery. I wondered what it would have been like to be trapped in this city during the recent war, as sniper fire and artillery shell rained down from the surrounding mountains. I also wondered how a city that had hosted an Olympics could have turned out to be in such a mess. As the morning wore on we got word that the motorcade would be heading our way shortly. We had been getting updated over the radio on the arrival of all the Heads if State at the airport.

We went on a higher state of alertness as the motorcade moved our way along its route, as the first sedan passed our vantage point we continually scanned our sector for movement. Black sedan after black sedan passed us. We tried to make out the little flags flying from the hoods but they were too small to see from our vantage point. Finally we got word the POTUS would be passing by shortly, a large black van with a multitude of antennas passed below us and then the sedan carrying President Clinton went by followed by another van. It was unconfirmed but it seems like our communications went out for a short time after the first van went by, like they had been jamming.

Once the President went by more dignitaries passed us and we continued to keep a sharp lookout. This was anti-climactic however as the motorcade would be taking another route to egress the conference and our job was essentially done. Eventually we got the word to pack up and move to street level for exfiltration.We waited until we saw the vehicle pull up in the alley behind our building and we quickly moved down the interior stairway and piled into the back. The truck took us back to the NATO base where we spent the rest of the evening swapping war stories with our buddies about what they had seen. One of the best I heard was that a French soldier at the airport had been tackled by the Secret Service because he thought it would be a good idea to try and get a peek at Bill Clinton through his sniper scope!!! True or not that was a good rumor.

The next morning we packed our belongings and boarded a plane for home. On arrival we turned in our weapons and I headed for my apartment and my family. I was tired but satisfied I had once again made the world safe for democracy or something.

Running through Scenary

2011-01-30T10:00:00.000-06:00

I was running one of my favorite routes the other day and as I was putting one foot in front of the other I started daydreaming about all the places I have run through in my life and how running is really part of who I am. I am not a fast runner although I have been fast at points in my life, I really just try to keep it moving down the road and some days are better than others. Running has sometimes been a means to an end but at other times it is the end itself. Running has also allowed me to see some pretty awesome scenery.

I made my first conscious decision to run when I was in high school, prior to this I just ran spontaneously as most kids do. However in high school I was a wrestler and I used running as a means to lose weight. Specifically I would run the 10 miles from my house to the high school wearing a rubber suit and old school cotton sweats. The idea was to sweat off water weight, this certainly was accomplished as I would lose 5-10 pounds on every run. Looking back this was an absolutely terrible practice, and they have actually made rules in high school wrestling to prohibit this,but that is now. These runs would take me along the highway and big semi-trucks would rumble by leaving me choking on dust and diesel fumes. I would look at the fields covered in snow and see the occasional turkey or deer. I still run this route sometimes when I run from my current home to where my parents still live.

When I joined the military and was stationed with the 82nd Airborne Division running became a chore. Everyday 5 days a week we would rise and shine to the strains of "blood upon the risers."

Then we would do our daily dozen exercises in physical training and take off on a formation run, singing such cadences as "C130 rolling down the strip, she wore a yellow ribbon, or Captain Jack. " These runs were done up and down the Ardennes street in front of the Division area. Thousands of paratroopers would run up and down this street and the air was filled with cadence.

When I moved on to the 10th Mountain Division it was more of the same although runs tended to be much more of a survival exercise in the frozen tundra of northern New York state. Once I got to Special Forces running became a daily competition. Every morning on a team it was a race to see who could complete the designated run first. During this point in my life I would have considered myself at my running peak, while not the fastest in the unit I was always in the top 5.

In the mid 1990's I ran my first community 5K, since then I have run hundreds of races from 5K to Ultramarathon, it was from this point that while running was still part of my job it also became my hobby. I started running for fun and not just because I had too. I started to enjoy the times spent running on roads and trails. I particularly enjoyed some of the sights I saw and places I ran. I have some great memories good and bad from running.

In Ranger School I once had to piss down my leg so as not to fall out of formation which would have resulted in failure of the course.

In the Special Forces Qualification course I spent countless miles struggling along the sandy firebreaks of Fort Bragg NC

In Incirlik, Turkey my team would run the 8 miles around the airfield every morning, listening to the call for prayer from the minerets and watching farmers in donkey carts traveling the roads.

In Germany I could run through the forest and villages on a myriad of trails. Leaving from my doorstep I don't think I ever ran the same route twice in 3 years.

I have run in Kosovo and Uzbekistan with a pistol concealed in a fanny pack, while running up and around the mountain trails.

In Uzbekistan I also ran through the city of Tashkent and the massive Independence Square where Communist Party rallys used to be held.

In San Vito/Brindisi Italy we would run along the highway that headed to the beach, I would stop sometimes and grab some grapes from the vineyards to snack on.

In Colorado I would run the trails through the Garden of the Gods or up the "Incline" from the Barr trail parking lot

Of course home is where the heart is, and this is the scenary I run through now

I hope to have much more scenary and many more runs ahead of me

What I Would Do If I Was Rich (Don't Quit Your Day Job)

2011-01-19T20:19:00.000-06:00

So I have been MIA from this blog for a few weeks, honestly and surprisingly I really had nothing to say. I mostly reserve this forum for more lengthy diatribes and leave the short day to day comments for other places like http://twitter.com/mikemac356 and http://mikemac356.tumblr.com . But today I was daydreaming, as usual, and I got to thinking how much I enjoy my work as an Emergency Medical Technician and that if I was rich it would be what I would do for a living. In fact over the last few years I have kicked myself for not becoming an 18D Special Operations Medic while I was in Special Forces. If I had taken that opportunity I would be light years ahead of where I am now in terms of emergency medicine skills and knowledge. At my age being light years ahead in anything is a big plus. In fact it was the 18D's during my military career who lit the pilot light on my current interest in emergency medicine.

Back in the day, when there was nothing to do and it was too early to head for the hacienda it was inevitable that the current Team Sergeant would announce to the 18Ds that it was time for some medical cross training. Hell when I was a Team sergeant I did it myself. Medical training was appropriate for a few reasons, it is a perishable skill which requires repetitious practice, if both medics where down in combat or busy who was going to treat the other wounded, and it was easy to do. So grab a few IV administration sets and a SAM split and go to town. Thing was I always liked this training and to this day I would put any one of my medics on any of the ODA's I was on up against anybody for all around knowledge and medical skill. Thanks Carl, Glenn, Jeff, Matt, Mike, Curley,Craig,Jerry,Aaron, Chris, Ron and any other 18D that ever showed me anything.

So going on five years ago I took the EMT-B course because of this interest in medical "stuff." However at the time I took it because it was a prerequisite to get on the local fire department, the action guy in me thought I might like to be a firefighter. Well the department wasn't hiring that year and I was too old to wait so I moved on and started volunteering my time at a rural ambulance service. Most of the services here in Iowa are volunteer and rural. Well fast forward to the present day and I am a member of the leadership council at that service and I also work as a paid albeit part time EMT on another rural ambulance service. So between both services I am on call about 140-200 hours a month mostly overnights because , hey, I still have a day job. And that is the main issue with why I don't do EMS full time. Big secret if you don't know and I think most people don't but EMS personnel are paid not much more than your local convenience store clerk. An EMT-B makes an average of $9-$10 an hour that is if they are even paid and aren't volunteers. Paramedics get paid more but not a lot more. I think this is a travesty and a shame. The EMS personnel I know are some of the most dedicated people you will ever meet. Hundreds of calls are run and lives are saved every year by people that cultivate their skills and service their communities and expect nothing in return. Next time you see an Ambulance or someone in EMS, tell them thanks for me.

So in a nutshell that is why I don't do this full time. However because I am a definite TYPE "A" I am doing the best I can to progress in my knowledge of EMS as fast as I can. Sometimes this doesn't seem very fast but slow moving wheels still turn. Currently I am attending the EMT-Intermediate course with the intention of transitioning to the Advanced-EMT designation when the National EMS Standards come into full effect in the next few years. I also plan on trying to get into the Paramedic course next Winter. However despite the pay issues this is a very popular course, I wasn't able to get in this year. Hopefully by the time I am 50 I will be a qualified paramedic running on an ambulance service somewhere. Then when I retire from my day job I can run ambulance calls to stay busy. I will also be able to drink coffee and bore the young kids while I alternate between "When I was in Special Forces " and "When I was a Paramedic" stories. That will be some good times.

Swamp Patrol

2010-12-31T20:36:00.000-06:00

In 1988 I was attending the U.S. Army Ranger school having progressed through City week and the Mountain phase I was now located at Eglin AFB Florida for what was called "Jungle Phase." It really should have been called "swamp" phase in my opinion since we spent most of our time knee deep in water. This phase concentrated on platoon size operations and all of us Ranger students had to pass a patrol as Platoon Leader (PL). We were also graded on other leadership positions such as squad leaders or Platoon Sergeant (APL). Upon initial arrival we were given the obligatory speech about how we had had it easy up to this point but that this phase would weed out the wannabes. Our Ranger instructors also showed us a huge American Alligator. This thing was about 20 feet long and lived in a pond surrounded by a fence on the Ranger compound. It had a name but after over twenty years I can’t remember what it was.

Eventually we were allowed to put our gear in the barracks and we spent the next two days taking classes and trying to stay awake. Even though we were in a garrison environment for those two days we still were only given one Meal-Ready-To-Eat a day and four hours of sleep a night or less. At this point after about thirty days of this regimen our bodies were starting to seriously break down. We thought about food constantly and we fought against fatigue on a minute by minute basis. This was supposed to put stress on us similar to what we might face in combat as leaders. Funny thing though, when I actually got to combat later on in my career I was always well fed and I usually got enough sleep, that’s because in real combat the Army doesn’t want a bunch of sleepy, hungry guys performing high priority missions if they can help it.

So during one class on poisonous snakes indigenous to the area, as we were dozing through a PowerPoint presentation, our instructor pulled out a large wooden box and said he was going to show us a live rattle snake. So as he reached into the box he let out a loud yell. “Oh my God it just bit me!!!!!” Then we saw this large snake go flying across the room as he flung it away from himself. He had thrown it towards the opposite side of the room than the side I was sitting on and the students on that side were climbing over each other, over the chairs, and up the walls trying to make some distance between themselves and the snake. When the snake landed it just lay there, upon closer inspection it was discovered that it was a rubber snake. All the instructors where laughing their asses off at all the dumb ranger students that had been trying to run from a rubber snake. Looking back I admit it was pretty funny and he sure kept us awake for the rest of his class.

Eventually class time was over and we started the by now familiar routine of operations order, gear prep and deployment for a ten day patrol in the swamps of Eglin AFB. We loaded deuce and a half trucks and after about a two hour ride in the covered back of these trucks, the Ranger Instructors “encouraged” us to un-ass “their” vehicle and pull security as they drove off down the sandy road. I was prone with my M16 rifle facing out towards the enemy as part of the 360 degree security we established while the student designated at PL got his bearings. I was just a squad member on this first day so I had nothing in particular to worry about. In addition to my regular gear I had a 120 foot nylon rope back-fed into my rucksack for our anticipated river crossing of the Yellow River. The Yellow River meandered its way through the training area surrounded by a large swamp. This swamp was due to the fact that elevation changes where practically non existent as we looked at the map. I was pretty happy about this after finishing the mountain phase of the course I was ready for some flatness. Little did I know that even flatness has its drawbacks.

As we got started on the patrol I was a rifleman on the left flank of the B-Team or the second team of the 3^rd squad in the patrol order. Each team consisted of a point man, a Team leader, an automatic rifle man and three rifle man. We were all arranged in wedges with the Squad Leaders and Platoon leader positioning themselves with their RTO’s (radio operators) in the center of each formation. We started walking keeping a separation of 50-100 meters between elements as the terrain dictated. As in most of the south we were patrolling through sandy soil, covered with pine needles from the tall pine trees and short scrubby pines that were growing thick in the area. As we had been dropped off in late afternoon eventually we stopped to conduct a listening halt right around EENT or end evening nautical twilight. This served two purposes, it allowed us to acclimatize ourselves to the sights and sounds of the “battle field” as darkness fell and it allowed our PL to orient himself to our objective.

Our initial objective was a cache of Zodiac rubber boats with which we were to move ourselves and our equipment to our raid objective. The boats were more than a days patrol away so we would be spending the night in a patrol base before we reached them. Eventually after patrolling until about 0100 through the pie forest we stopped as the PL did a leader’s reconnaissance for a night time patrol base. Once an acceptable spot was located we all moved in forming a cigar shaped perimeter with inter-locking fields of fire and automatic weapons strongpointed along likely avenues of approach. As one ranger pulled security the other one utilized his entrenching tool to dig a shallow fox hole. Once everyone was dug in we were allowed to pull 50% security. This meant one ranger could sleep while the other stared into the darkness straining to see the “enemy” or more likely a Ranger Instructor sneaking up to try and steal equipment from a sleeping ranger.

Morning came early after I got about 2 hours of sleep and we moved out again towards our objective. Shortly after moving out we started to encounter the swamp surrounding the Yellow River. From this point on I would not have dry feet for about a week. We slogged through the mud moving now one behind the other in a “Ranger File.” Due to the terrain I couldn’t see anything but the rucksack of the ranger in front of me. My goal became a struggle to keep within arms reach of my platoon mate to the front so as not to break contact. All the while under water roots and branches continued to try and trip me up and the mud tried to pull the jungle boots from my feet. Eventually we reached the bank of the river where several Zodiacs where pulled up on the bank. Each boat could hold 12 rangers. We piled our rucksacks in the middle and straddled the side of the Zodaic with one knee in the center and one on the outside edge with our leg almost but not quite dangling in the water as we tucked it behind us. We launched our boats and tried to get in rhythm as we paddled down the river for what was to be a 12 kilometer movement to our disembarkation point.

Paddling down the river was almost a relief with the exception of trying to stay in cadence with my fellow rangers. Our Ranger Instructor sat in the back giving us “constructive criticism” on our technique and navigation down the river. I said almost a relief because shortly after we pushed off I started noticing some of the local fauna sunning themselves on the banks of the river. The fauna I was seeing was many many alligators more than this Iowa boy had ever seen and certainly the only ones I had seen in the wild. I started being very aware of the leg that was inches from the river and continually tried to tuck it further up under my butt as I kept a watchful eye out for any reptilian predators.

Eventually we beached the boats and the little river ride was over, we disembarked as it was getting dark again. We climbed out straight into the water about waist deep and started to slog our way on azimuth towards our next objective which was a patrol base on the dry side of the river. We would not reach it that night and would be spending the night in the swamp with no sleep. Once we entered the trees and bushes surrounding the river it instantly got pitch dark. The only thing you could see was the luminous “cat eyes” sewed on the rucksacks and patrol caps of the ranger to your immediate front. It was so dark you could literally not see your hand in front of your face, and the branches and roots of the very closely grown together trees in the swamp constantly looked to poke you in the eye or trip you up.

We spent the next 10-12 hours wading through the waist to chest deep water, keeping our weapons above our heads so as not to get them wet and struggling to keep up with the man ahead. At one point we halted and the word was passed back to bring up the 120 foot rope as we needed it for a river crossing. As I struggled to the front of the file I was thinking to myself, that I thought we had been walking through the freaking river for the last 5 hours. One ranger tied the rope around his waist and left all his gear as he swam across the 100 meters to the opposite shore. He then secured the opposite end to a tree and pulled security while we sent his gear across with another ranger. All of us took turns snaplinking to the rope and making our way rucksack, weapon and all across the river. When it was my turn being, fairly short at 5’7”, I almost immediately lost my footing as the river got deeper. My rucksack actually acted as a buoyancy device and kept me afloat as I held my weapon out of the water and pulled myself with my other hand along the rope. Unfortunately it was also pulling my chest strap across my throat and threatened to choke me out before I got to the other side. Eventually I did make it though and pulled security while the rest of the platoon crossed and we re-stoyed the rope in my rucksack. The now wet rope weighed about a million pounds as we continued along in the dark.

As the sun came up we entered a clearing that was on some higher ground. While not totally dry it was dryer than anything we had walked on in the last 10 hours. The sunshine was sending its early morning rays through the rising mist of the swamp causing light to bounce off in tiny rain bows. As I looked to the left and right of me my fellow students, muddy, wet and bedraggled looked like something out of the living dead as they emerged from the mist on to dryer ground. I wasn’t in any better shape myself as somehow I had managed to rip a hole in the entire left leg of my BDU pants and my muddy leg kept poking its way out every time I took a step. It is funny how some images remain with you forever. But I will never forget this image of our platoon emerging from the swamp after an exhausting night of patrolling into a bright morning sun. I can see it now in my minds eye right down to my prune-like hands and muddy boots. I participated in many patrols in my career, both in training and combat but this one was one I will never forget.

So this is Christmas

2010-12-25T22:03:00.000-06:00

I haven't been blogging much this month, been pretty busy and also the old creative juices just weren't flowing. I was thinking today however about Christmas past and some of the good times I have had and the things I am thankful for. As you know I am in to lists so I made of my Christmas thanks in no particular order.

I am thankful all my children are safe and productive.
I am thankful for the 20 gauge shotgun my Dad bought me when I was 10, I still have it.
I am thankful my Wife still puts up with my BS, I think we were made for each other which is the point.
I am thankful for the ipod and my forerunner GPS both presents that are the most useful my kids ever got me over the years.
I am thankful I have a job(s)
I am thankful that in 22 years of active Military service through war and peacetime, even though I missed every other holiday and birthday, I made it home for every Christmas. One year I flew in on Dec 24.
I am thankful I like to run
I am thankful I can still run
I am thankful my dogs like me
I am thankful that I live in the United States of America

There is so much else to be thankful for I couldn't possibly put it all down, So I say Merry Christmas to you all and to all a good night!!!

2010 In Review : Former Action Guy by the numbers

2010-12-15T20:18:00.000-06:00

In it usually about this time of year that all your radio stations start their top 100 countdowns or VH1 broadcasts best of the year videos or any number of places select their"best of." I thought I would hop on the band wagon and countdown my last year by the numbers. So here goes:

Officiating by the numbers
Football games officiated-77
Baseball games umpired-100
Wrestling matches officiated-100-150 ( just a SWAG on this, I never counted actual matches just dates of tournaments and dual meets)
Top Ten Athletes or Teams officiated-17
Hall of Fame Coaches whose hand I shook- 2 (Butch Pedersen Football West Branch, Iowa High School Coaches Hall of Fame and Marv Cook Football Iowa City Regina,West Branch HS and University of Iowa Hall of Fame also NFL for 7 years with Chiefs)
Number of Coaches that told us good job-5

Running/Biking by the numbers
Ultramarathons complete- 1 (Hawkeye 50K)
Marathons complete- 1 (Quad Cities Marathon)
1/2 Marathons complete- 2 (Rockford 1/2 Marathon, New Bo Fest 1/2 Marathon)
8.8 mile prediction races complete- 1 (Mall to Mall prediction race)
8K run complete- 1 (Return of Turkey Trot 8K)
5K run complete- 3 (Alliant Energy 5K,Lisbon Kraut Route 5K, Freeze Fest 5K)
Mountain Bike races complete- 2 ( Decorah Time Trials, Sugar Bottom Scramble Iowa State Mountain Bike Championships)
MTB races where I finished dead last- 1
IMBCS points-261
Iowa Mountain Bike Championship Series Cat 3 final standing-18
Cedar Valley Running Association Circuit points-120
CVRA 40-49 age group final standing- 4

Social Media by the numbers

Social media accounts-9 (twitter,facebook,myspace,linkedin,dailymile,googlebuzz,blogger,tumblr,youtube)
Tweets-3967 (yep I have no life)
Blogs started- 2 (Former Action Guy www.mikemac356.blogspot.com , Former Action Guy 2 http://mikemac356.tumblr.com/)
Blog Posts- 143 ( again no life and I like to talk about my favorite subject..me)
Articles published on the internet-2

Emergency Medicine by the numbers

Ambulance Services working for-2
Number of calls-69
Car accidents dispatched to-20
Standby for Fires-1
People that thanked me for saving their life-2

Fandom by the numbers

Times I saw the Troy Trojans- 0
Times I wished I could watch them-12
Times I disowned the Iowa Hawkeye football team- 5
Times I said I wouldn't watch them again -6
Times I watched them-13 ( this counts the bowl game at the end of the month)
Times I disowned the Minnesota Vikings-7
Times I said I wouldn't watch them again-8
Times I watched them-11
Times I disowned the Chicago Cubs-Never mind this is pointless

Random Numbers
Part time jobs I quit-1
Part time jobs hired at-1
Promotions-1
Years since Army retirement-6
Years since joining Army-28
Years since graduating Airborne School-27
Years since graduating Ranger School-22
Years since graduating Special Forces Qualification course-20
Post military pounds lost-25
Post military pounds regained-5
Time I miss Special Forces -Everyday
Kids graduated this year-1
Anniversaries-23
Birthdays-47
United States Practical Shooters Association Matches competed at-2

So there you have my year in numbers. I probably missed some things but I will get them next year.

Tschuss

Hawkeye 50K UltraMarathon

2010-12-12T18:33:00.000-06:00

OK so the day I trained for came and went and it was everything I wanted it to be. It was challenging, a suckfest (but not a bad suckfest like this http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/04/decorah-time-trials-aka-suck-fest-2010.html but a good suckfest that left you feeling good), and well organized. I had been wanting to run an Ultramarathon for 4-5 years, in fact I was training for one 4 years ago when I tore the meniscus in my left knee and it took this long for me to get back to where the knee could handle the distances. I must admit the weather forecast for race day called for some pretty crappy weather and that part messed with my mind a little bit. In fact I almost wimped out and downgraded to the 25K but I am glad I didn't.

So the morning of the race I woke up and jumped in the car. I stopped at a local convenience store and grabbed a pre race breakfast of Gatorade and honey buns (yum yum) and then drove the 25 miles to the race start. The race was held around the Coralville Reservoir in the Macbride Wildlife area. When I arrived I was able to park only about 100 meters from the start. I got out of the car grabbed my camelbak and drop bag and walked to the start/finish line. I had put my ipod in my pocket and drapped my earphones over my shoulder, big mistake, by the time I got to the drop bag area I had lost my earphones. This was not good, I looked around for about 10 minutes but couldn't find where I dropped them. As I walked back to the car to put my now useless ipod away I was thinking, awesome what am I going to do without the 8 plus hours of carefully selected tunes and podcasts I had hoped to use to take my mind off the whole running thing? Just deal I suppose.

So I got back to the start about 5 minutes before racetime and as luck would have it, the rain started pouring down. It was about 38 degrees at this point which is almost worse than anything else, cold and wet really sucks. All the racers where trying (about 125 of us) to huddle under a little overhang and stay as dry as possible before the race started. The course for the 50K was two 15.5 mile loops that would end up at the same place as we started. Each loop was divided basically in thirds, the first third was along a two lane highway, the second third was along crushed gravel paths around the lake, and the last third was on single track mountain bike trails in the woods.

Well the race director gave a little motivational speech and hit the starter pistol and off we went. The first .5 miles was on a mountain bike trail and it was pretty stop and go as all 125 of us tried to funnel on this trail. Eventually it dumped us out on a service road which we ran on for about a mile before we got to the highway. Did I mention it was still pouring buckets? Just after we hit the highway and people started stretching out a lady ran up beside me and started a conversation. Her name was Dorothy and she is a middle school music teacher. She told me her husband was running the 50K and she was running the 25K, he was somewhere up ahead of us. She also told me she had brain surgery last May, it was pretty amazing that she was out running a 25K. We had a very nice conversation for the next 6 miles as the highway stretched ahead, eventually we turned left as we hit the town of Solon Iowa and we came up on the first aid station. I walked through the aid station and we continued on hitting those crushed gravel paths. These paths were soggy and had a lot of standing water from the rain, but it made for better running on my knee. About mile 8 Dorothy told me to go ahead. I wished her good luck as she started to slow to a walk. I kept running along the paths as they followed the shoreline and through the woods. The houses on the lakefront where all very rich looking and most had private docks. About mile 9 was the second aid station where I grabbed some water and used the porto-potty. I then hit the woods for the third leg, this leg was the toughest as far as terrain, it reminded me of some of the terrain I had walked through on the Appalachian trail. Up and down and around trees and ridgelines and draws. At mile 10 we had a stream crossing, it was fairly wide about 50 meters and about ankle deep. It took me probably 5-10 minutes to pick my way through jumping from rock to rock but I managed to make it without getting my feet wet. Immediately after the stream we had to actually free climb a short section of rock to get back on top of a ridge line and hook up with the trail. From this point forward I started employing a run/walk strategy. The ridge lines where just too steep,too muddy,too many roots and leaves to run up. I would walk uphill using a tree every now and then to get over the steeper sections, I would then run downhill and the flat parts. I still had to be careful going downhill though because the mud and leaves was like skiing at some points. At mile 12 we suddenly popped out of the woods and there was the start finish, on my first lap I was thinking, no way my GPS wasn't off that much! I was right because the course went right by the start and took a hard right straight up another ridge. We continued on about 3.5 miles more of muddy trails until we looped back to the start/finish. It was during this section where I started talking to a lady whose name I never got who said she had run a few 100 miles races. Pretty impressive. When we got back to the start/finish, I made the decision to put on my dry shoes as I was muddy up to my ankles and my feet where soaked. I finished the first lap in 3 hrs 10 minutes and it took me about 4 minutes to change my shoes and socks. I grabbed a banana and a PBJ and headed down the trail. So at 3:14 race time I was back out starting my second lap.

The second time around was a very different race, all the 25K runners were off the course so I ran most of it without seeing anyone to my front or my back. Also the weather had changed from rain to snow. The temperature had dropped about 20 degrees and the wind picked up, it was a blizzard the second time around. My jacket froze stiff as a board and I had snow encrusted on my front from top to bottom. The highway section on my second lap took a lot out of me, just seeing it stretch off into the distance with no one around and the wind howling was a real mental challenge. Along the highway about mile 18 I heard this big clap of thunder. I thought "oh great thunder snow!" I started looking for somewhere to take shelter from lightning but I didn't hear any more. I made it to the first aid station and stopped for a drink. I asked if anyone was behind me and they said " a few." I joked with them and said' I better slow down then." So I continued on to the gravel section, which by now the wind was blowing the snow straight off the lake into my face and all that standing water was freezing into ice.I was running downhill during this section when I got a massive cramp in my left thigh about mile 20. It was horrible never felt anything like that before. All I could think was that I was not going to quit. I walked for about 15 minutes until the cramp went away while downing some power gels and water from my camelbak. That seemed to do the trick as it never bothered me the rest of the race.

Between mile 20 and the next rest area I actually passed two people that had slowed down to a walk. I was still doing the run/walk thing by running 10 minutes and walking 2. When I hit the last aid station about mile 22 I downed the pedialite they offered me and ate half a frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwich while I headed back into the woods for the last section. The second water crossing was a lot different than the first, by now all the rocks where snow covered and even though I tried to follow my original line I managed to fall in and get my right leg wet up to the shin. No big deal though as I was pretty much already soaked from head to toe anway. I scrambled up the rocks and headed into the last 3-4 miles of the course. It was about this point that I crossed into ultramarathon territory having went over 26.2 miles. It had taken me 6 hours, compare this to my last marathon time of 4 hours 44 minutes and you can see how the conditions and terrain affected my race. By now everything was snow covered so I had to contend with leaves,roots,snow and mud as I went up and down the ridgelines and draws. The course was well marked and I could follow footprints of the runners ahead of me so getting lost was not my concern. I rounded the curve at the start/finish as a guy asked me for my number I yelled it at him as I headed up the ridge. As I ran through the woods the wasn't a soul in sight except for the occasional squirrel and deer print. It was very still and all I could hear was the rustling of my frozen jacket as my arms swang back and forth. It was somewhere during this time that the song Will Ferrell sang in Step Brothers kept going through my head.

Eventually I started singing it out loud or at least as much as I could remember, if someone would have seen me they probably would have thought I lost it. I rounded the last corner and saw the building at the start a few hundred meters ahead. I ran up and just stopped. I finished in 7 hours 21 minutes and 44 seconds. The second lap took me 1 hour and 7 minutes longer than the first. Everyone was inside staying warm it was kind of anti climactic at the finish. I grabbed my bag and walked inside. Everyone looked at me all snow covered and said" Did you just finish?" I said " Yeah" They said "Here's your medal good job" I said "Thanks." So I ate another PBJ got in my car and went home and took a nap. Awesome.

I am writing this the next day. I got up this morning and was a little sore but I officiated a wrestling tournament this morning and now I am on duty at the ambulance garage. I think I will be losing some toenails though. This was a great race and now I am seriously thinking about doing a 50 miler this spring more to follow on that

Twenty Seconds

2010-11-25T18:11:00.000-06:00

Twenty seconds doesn’t seem like a long time. Think about it, what do you do that takes 20 seconds? Microwave some leftovers, read some junk mail, or many other small insignificant things come to mind. During my time as a Military Freefall Instructor twenty seconds was the time it took me to exit an aircraft, target, and chase down another jumper that was unstable and out of control. This was commonly known as the “twenty second drill.” It was a defining test for Military Freefall Instructor candidates and a must pass. Most Special Forces schools I attended had a test like this. These were tests that were tough, difficult, and required you to use all your collective skills. In the 18 Bravo Special Forces Weapons Sergeant Course it was the “pile test” where they would detailed disassemble 5 weapons, one from each sub group (pistol, submachinegun, light machinegun, heavy machinegun and rifle) pile them together and tell you to put them back together and perform a functions check in a specified time period. In the Special Operations Target Interdictions Course it was the final stalk and shot at the sniper range. During the Special Forces Operations and Intelligence Sergeant Course it was the Order of Battle test, I could go on and on but suffice to say that these tests all had an immense amount of stress attached.

The twenty second drill was run like this, a candidate instructor would exit the aircraft using a poised exit (backwards) and as he exited he would click the stopwatch he held in his hand. The instructor candidate (me) would have to slow count to four thousand-one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand, and four one thousand. Then it was permissible to exit the aircraft yourself with the intent of getting within arms reach and touch the instructor within twenty seconds on his stopwatch, sound easy right?

Unfortunately by the time we were allowed to exit the instructor literally looked like a microscopic black speck that was continuing to fall away from our fast moving Air Force aircraft. To intersect this small speck within twenty seconds the instructor candidate had to exit the aircraft and immediately put himself in a head down dive. Normal freefall speeds reach 120 mph, I have been told that jumpers in a head down dive reach speeds approaching 180 mph. To achieve the head down dive a jumper must be perfectly aligned and symmetrical. Immediately upon exiting the aircraft you need to bend sharply at the waist pointing the top of your helmet towards the ground, at the same time you need to bring your lower torso and legs up so they are inline with the top half of your body and point your toes, arms are tightly at your sides. When done correctly your body becomes a speeding dart hurtling head first towards terra firma, when done incorrectly the jumper is violently spun across the sky flapping and flopping like a fish out of water.

Once the correct body position is achieved and the head down dive is underway a problem develops, you can’t friggin see the target because you are looking away from it!! Many candidates tried many techniques to overcome this obstacle, some flipped around so that they were facing the target with their back to the aircraft; most employed the technique I used which was to count. I would count to 12 and raise my head to look; the very act of slightly raising the head would terminate your dive and put you in a steep “swoop.” If done correctly this swoop would intersect you directly with your target within the twenty second window. Unfortunately most times everything did not go correctly, my body position was wrong causing me to flip and flop, or I pulled up too early causing an incorrect tangent to my target. I don’t know how many times I touched the instructor at 21,22, or 25 seconds. One time I touched his arm at 20.5!!! However on my 75^th attempt (yes, 75 jumps on this drill, don’t judge) I executed it perfect and pulled a time of 18 seconds, mission complete.

So why all this effort on one drill and why so much emphasis? Because learning this technique saves lives. Later on after I had been a Military Freefall Instructor for a year I had occasion to use this technique to save the life of another soldier. This is how it happened. It was during the one on one jump phase in the initial part of the first jump week, this student jumper had progressed past the instructor assisted exits and was doing his first solo exit of the aircraft. I had instructed him to employ a poised exit because it was a more stable exit for the novice and I had told him to give himself a count of “up,down,out.” On his internal “out” he was to jump out of the aircraft.

What happened in reality was when he attempted to exit it was very weak and he hit his face on the ramp of the aircraft, this disoriented him and flipped on his back, putting him in a violent spin. During the exit I had been positioned at his right side or ripcord side as was our SOP, however when he started spinning he kicked me in the face and spun me away from my position. When I regained my composure and located him he was 1500-2000 feet below me on his back and still spinning. I immediately employed the head down dive technique which had become instinctive; counting silently to myself I raised my head and once again located him. Looking at my altimeter I saw we were about 8000 feet AGL, I had to close the distance fast!!! I continued to swoop towards the student and due to my haste I slammed into his side a little rougher than I had intended nevertheless I flipped him belly to earth and stopped his spin. I glanced at my altimeter again and saw we were about to go through the designated pull altitude of 4000 feet AGL, I gave him the pull signal once but he either didn’t see it or was still disoriented. Seeing we were now approaching 3500 feet I grasped his ripcord myself and gave it a vigorous tug. As his pilot chute was deployed it pulled his canopy and suspension lines out of his pack tray. When it caught wind and started to inflate he was pulled violently from my grasp. Now it was time for me to save myself, I tracked away a few seconds so as not to be directly under him and I threw my own pilot chute, my canopy deployed and I breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at my altimeter once again I saw that I had a good canopy at 1500 feet AGL, not much room to spare.

Later after we landed I asked him what had happened, he said he thought when he jumped up the plane would just fly out from under him, another rocket scientist. I told him in my best instructor voice that he was a moron and he better pull his head out of his fourth point of contact. He did end up graduating however becoming a pretty good jumper.

As a side note later on when I was a candidate instructor myself and was conducting the twenty second drill those guys barreling towards me like human missiles used to scare the piss out of me, never knew if they would be able to stop or not. Good times

There Is a Little Nerd In All Of Us

2010-11-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

I was teasing my oldest son earlier today about the fact he likes Japanese Anime ( I mean really likes it) and how that makes him nerd. He attends conventions, costumes,videos you get the picture. He countered with the fact that I plan my weekend around any new Doctor Who episode and how I used to do the same thing about LOST or Star Trek. This is all true, I am a sucker for Science Fiction always have been. The point I got out of the whole conversation was that everyone has a little nerd in them.

This nerdiness is exhibited whenever anyone talks excitedly about any subject while everyone else kind of looks at them and nods their head. My family does this when I talk about any number of subjects such as football,wrestling,baseball,shooting, Doctor Who, skydiving, running, or the Red Green Show. My eyes glaze over when my kids talk about Twilight, Anime, Harry Potter (Ok not Harry Potter).

We need a little nerdiness in our life, every person is the sum of their parts and without the balance of nerddom to keep us Former Action Guys on the straight and narrow our heads would swell. Being a nerd is like eating your favorite candy bar, so good but you feel a little guilty about it. Well nerd on my friends as I get older the nerdier I get.

The Return of the Turkey Trot 8K 2010

2010-11-13T19:08:00.000-06:00

So this morning I ran in the Return of the Turkey Trot. This race is the closest thing we have to a Thanksgiving run in the immediate area but I wish they actually had it on Thanksgiving or at least that weekend before. I had been meaning to run this race every year but something always came up mostly work related so I haven't actually run in this race since 2005. I had planned to use it as part of a training run for my upcoming ultramarathon by running 10 miles from my house to the start running the race then getting picked up . The logistics for that went to hell ( no one could pick me up)so I started off the morning by getting up and just driving to the race site. I picked up my race packet then decided to go on a short run before the race started to make up for at least some of those missed miles and to warmup. So I probably ran about a mile before I ended up back at the start line 5 minutes before race time.

I read this race had over 1000 entries but it really has a small race feel to it ( more on this later), The local Mayor gave the starting speech and after the Star Spangled Banner and the Invocation he told us to ready set go. The street we started on was really narrow so it felt like I was in the starting pen of some of the larger marathons I have participated in. Unless you were in the front, which I never am, you were running shoulder to shoulder for the first mile to mile and a half. To make it worse they started everyone at once with no segregation so you had little kids doing the fun run, walkers, 4K runners and 8K runners all mixed up together. This caused me a lot of problems with my pace at the beginning. The first 2 miles of the course were hilly and I passed a lot of people on the up hills. Shortly after the 2 mile point was the first water stop and I grabbed a cup and took a few swigs. Glad I did because there wouldn't be a water stop until almost the end.

Once the 8K split off from the other races it got better and there was some room to run. I felt pretty strong so I picked my pace up a little and was steadily passing people the entire race, that's why I like starting in the back gives me a psychological boost. As we headed south towards the turn around a good stiff breeze was hitting us in the face which made the 40 degree temperature feel even colder. At the 2.5 mark we turned around and headed back north winding our way through a residential neighborhood. The wind was at our backs now and I picked it up a little more as I could smell the finish line. We made the final turn heading west and I could see the finish line about 3/4 of a mile in the distance. At this point we were catching up with some of the walkers and had to zig zag to avoid them as they didn't really listen to the instructions pre-race that had told them to stay left. I crossed the finish line with plenty of gas in the tank and headed in to get some coffee at the post-race pancake breakfast. All in all a good race although I didn't get the mileage in I wanted today. I do have some suggestions though. This race has got to the point were it is bigger than a little local 5K and needs some professional management and amenities. Adding a few of the things below would make it more enjoyable:

Chip timing
More water stations (there were only 2)
More Porto Potties ( Only 4)
Segregate the start times for the different races and have the routes be somewhat different.

Good day though and I ran a good race in 44:22

My New "Golf"

2010-11-09T21:35:00.000-06:00

OK so this weekend I found my new "golf." It has been a long time since I had a "golf "but now I do and I will obsess over it for as long as it interests me. You are probably wondering what a "golf" is, well "golf" is any hobby in which you compete against others but mostly against yourself, you are also required to have specialized equipment that is fairly expensive. "Golf" will consume your weekends because you will never be quite good enough. You will hang out with your "golf" friends and talk "golf." But mostly you will spend money in a vain attempt to be better at "golf."

Not surprisingly my first "golf" was actually golf, my Father gave me a decent set of clubs which I still have and I started teaching myself the game when I was in my early twenties. That was mistake number one, if you want to be any good you can't teach yourself "golf." Teaching yourself "golf" promotes bad habits that you will spend many weekends trying to overcome. So for a few years and especially when I was stationed in Germany I played a lot of Golf. I actually got pretty decent but then I moved away from my golf friends and it is no fun and too expensive to play golf by yourself, at least for me. I still play about once a year whenever my brothers and Dad can all get together. They are all way better a Golf than I am so the normal result is I swing the club,cuss, and drive the cart. It's good to do stuff with them though.

My second "golf" was bowling. When I lived in Arizona I belonged to two bowling leagues. One was a Men's league in which I was serious, the other was a CoEd league which my wife also bowled in. I really enjoyed bowling as I could compete and drink beer at the same time. Drinking beer was pretty important to me back then. This was also the only hobby which my wife also participated in. It was fun to do something with her and I still have the two patches I got for bowling over 200. The season was eventually over and I never bowled in a league again. I might someday though.

My next "golf" was skydiving. This was also why I was in Arizona but it stretched to other places as well. It reached its peak in Arizona. I haven't jumped out of a perfectly good plane in over 6 years but at one point I ate,slept,and breathed skydiving. I was a skydiving instructor in the military for three years during the week teaching Military Freefall and then I would go out on the weekends and teach it to civilians as a United States Parachute Association Accelerated Freefall Instructor. I have thousands of jumps and a one time I was probably pretty dang good. Once I got out of the military though I lost all my skydiving friends and insurance and paying for jumps is just too expensive as a civilian. I am still a member of USPA however as I may yet jump again. Here is me and some of the fellows doing some training:

So that brings me to this past weekend, my new "golf" is competitive shooting. Specifically USPSA competitive shooting. My friend John has been involved in this for quite awhile and he has been trying to get me out to a match for about 4 years. I always had to work or something came up, but finally last Sunday I made the trip down to the range with him. I wasn't sure what to expect but I brought my pistol (S&W MP 40) some ammo, and my range gear.I followed John and his group of regulars to a little range in southeastern Iowa that looked like every other range I had ever been to. Picture dirt berms and pine trees, where they found pine trees in Iowa I have no idea. When we got there we went in to the range shack, plunked down our entry fee and grabbed out score sheets for each station. There where four stations set up with various obstacles and targets. The shack was so thick with cigarette/cigar smoke I thought it was coming out the chimney. As quick as possible I went back outside and we started shooting the courses of fire. Our group provided our own safety officers and we ran ourselves through going to what ever station was open and keeping score for each other. It was very relaxed and enjoyable. It reminded me of going to the range with my team and just blasting ammo in a relaxed none stressful environment. The courses were challenging with both paper and steel targets, but not overly so. I had a good time and as it turns out even though I don't practice a lot I actually shoot pretty well. I will be going back soon and as often as I can. Good people, good times. Maybe someday I will look like these guys:

Rebuttal from a Coach

2010-10-28T20:57:00.000-05:00

In the interest of fairness, I recieved a rather long rebuttal to my earlier rant about coaches. So for the first time ever here are comments in full sent by a "guest" blogger:

"I read your “Where is the Decorum?: Coach heal thyself” and while I agree with some of your points and could also point out some characteristics of youth referees if pressed J, I took personal offense to the “Coaches at all levels should be required to … pay a fee to get the privilege to coach our young people.” Just wanted to remind you that we do. I paid for the background checks, I paid for a course to get my copper card to coach youth wrestling, I paid for a USA wrestling membership, I pay for water and ice on occasion for practices and games because it is not necessarily provided but still our responsibility. I pay a little extra for the appreciation party at the end of the year. We also have to make the majority if not all practices and games while other parents may be able to “skip” a few for other commitments, and also we wait behind with other people’s kids who are “just a few minutes late” picking them up, no big deal, right? We also pay for the right to have other parents who focus solely on their child and tell us he needs more playing time or if we would just do this (meaning let their child play running back) the team would be better, etc. etc. after watching practice or the game for 5 minutes when we have been practicing and evaluating for weeks. We are even tutors on occasion when some kids can’t seem to pass a simple grade check in school because the parents are not capable of helping (all it takes is effort which is what is wrong with America). I have been mentor, tutor, male role model, friend, financier, bus driver, whipping boy and scapegoat all so my son gets to be coached by me (really who better J )and because I am a sports nut. We receive absolutely no compensation for our time whatsoever except for the occasional “thanks, coach”. I think we’ve paid enough. I wouldn’t be opposed to a knowledge based quiz however, but I think we know how that will turn out, in my case at least. Just some other side of the coin perspective for you bro."

So there you have it, I have been rebuked. But since this is my blog I have the final word and we all know I wasn't talking about the kind of coach that takes the time to write such a convincing response. So we can agree that both officials and coaches need to be role models and be professional. We can also agree that the coach above is exactly the kind of coach kids need.

Married to Me Appreciation Day

2010-10-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

So I was perusing the Runners World website today and I read this blog post http://rwdaily.runnersworld.com/2010/10/national-married-to-a-runner-appreciation-day.html .I very much enjoyed the post and at the end of it the author challenged us to write a blog about our wife. The premise of the post was that runners wives put up with a lot and they do. I am a runner and my wife puts up with quite a bit, like just yesterday when I went on a 3 hour run and then came back and tracked mud on the kitchen floor. But I got to thinking that not only does my wife put up with my running but she also puts up with... well me in general.

I will be the first to admit that I am a very hard person to live with. I am macho, egotistic, somewhat self centered, demanding, picky, and at the same time oblivious. I find it hard to show emotion. I care for people deeply but often they don't even know because I suck at telling them. I think about telling them usually after they leave the room. Mostly I act pretty grumpy. My kids call me sour marshmallow because of the grumpy outer shell that surrounds the gooey inside. I try to work on these things but after 22 years in the military I think my brain is hard wired for a low BS tolerance and unfortunately it thinks most people and things are BS. Over the last 6 years of civilian life I have been slowly trying to retrain myself to be a more caring and thoughtful person however so far I am a dismal failure at that. My wife on the other hand is very caring and thoughtful . I thought I might list some of the things she does for me that I very much appreciate in no particular order.

She makes awesome rolls and fry bread
She irons my dress clothes because I am a freaking wrinkle bomb waiting to explode
She puts flannel sheets on the bed and lets me sleep with the window open even though she is freezing
She reminds me to take my clothes out of the dryer and then after I forget she does it.
She lets me officiate sports and be gone many many weekends and nights
She lets me work as an Emergency Medical Technician(see above)
She waited for me day after day, month after month when I was deployed overseas keeping our family together
She brought 4 wonderful children into my life who I would die for( that is a true statement)
She knows I like pie
She lets me watch Football/Wrestling/NASCAR/Baseball/Gun shows without once asking me to turn the channel
She lets me run and bike and swim whenever I want as I try to stay active and keep a little of the competitive spirit alive.
She tells me I am handsome and not fat even though we both know she is fibbing
She has moved all over the planet with me to 7 different states and 2 countries, leaving her friends behind at every instance.
She makes me laugh

And the list could go on and on. I can't possibly list everything my wife does or has done. And sure it hasn't always been a bed of roses, whose marraige has? But we have been married 23 years. That is 23 years of growing together and learning each others likes and dislikes, fears and hopes. I wouldn't have done it any other way.

I love you Sparrow

Where Is the Decorum? : Coach Heal Thyself

2010-10-20T19:42:00.000-05:00

So I don't normally whine about things that I know I don't have control over. I also know that this subject has been discussed ad naseum by many many people, generally complaining about the younger generation. I however am not going to complain about young people, the people I am going to complain about are older and should definitely know better. The people I am talking about are so called youth sports "coaches." As I have related in the blog before I officiate sports from high school down to the elementary school level. Officiating is generally an enjoyable experience and the State High School Sports Associations keeps a pretty tight rein on unsportsmanlike behavior of coaches,players and fans.

Youth sports or those sports for younger individuals that are generally played outside the auspices of an official organization, however are a different story. Different leagues have wildly different standards between them as to who can be a coach and how that coach should act. This is fine, I am all for free enterprise and letting the market decide on the best process. However, what generally happens is the process is no process and if your kid or kids participates in the sport you're a "coach." There is where the problem lies, none of these so called coaches have any idea how to be a coach. They think because they watch a sport on TV that they know everything about it and their coaching technique amounts to browbeating the kids and yelling at the officials. Few if any of these Vince Lombardi want-a-be's actually take the time to study the rules or any coaching techniques that involve positive reinforcement. Oh they may throw the occasional " Have fun" when they are talking to their minions but the say it halfheartedly in an attempt to be politically correct.

Youth sports in my opinion is the time to positively model the good aspects of competition and being a member of a team. This is the opportunity to give the children involved good character traits before they grow up and the sport becomes more about winning conference championships than building character. Unfortunately rather than acting as a team in concert with the officiating staff to promote good game play and good sportsmanship too often coaches at these lower levels try to prove they're the next Bill Bellicek or Dan Gable and they run up the score, continue passing when ahead by 35 points, or just plain humiliate an opponent. This is bush league at its finest.Coaches should be modeling the good sportsmanship that they expect from others.

Coaches at all levels should be required to pass a knowledge based rules test, and pay a fee to get the privilege to coach our young people. Where are your manners, shame on you Coaches, heal thyself

Operation Display Determination 1985

2010-10-13T20:27:00.000-05:00

In 1985 I was a salty know it all member of the "Spec 4" Mafia assigned to Weapons Platoon B Company 1st Battalion 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division Ft. Bragg NC. I was assigned as the gunner for the main gun of our 81 mm mortar section, a somewhat prestigious position given to the lower enlisted guy who had managed to stick around the longest without getting chaptered out. The All American Division as the 82nd is known, was and is the only Division size paratroop unit left in the US Army. The army of the 1980's was different than today's military. It was struggling to make a cohesive professional force as it also transitioned from the draftee army of the 1970's to an all volunteer army. Times were a little turbulent, like the summer we had to walk to every training exercise closer than 12 miles because the military had run out of money for fuel.
Some of my good friends were Roger, Richard, Don (Duck), B.J., Bobby (The Ragin Cajun) , Mark,and Ernest T. All of these guys were awesome friends, some got out of the military and I lost touch, some like Duck who proceeded me into Special Forces made the military a career like I did.They say you never forget your first and Weapons platoon was my first military unit and I will never forget the characters that belonged to it.

In 1985 our unit was deployed to the European part of Turkey in an Emergency Deployment Readiness exercise called "Display Determination 85." Every platoon provided two soldiers to act as an advance party and I was chosen to be one of those two for our platoon. The other soldier accompanying me was a "newbie" to our platoon named David. Dave had come over from the 4/325 stationed in Vicenza Italy so he was familiar with Europe where my only trip overseas at the time had been to the Sinai Peninsula. The 4/325 would be redesignated the 173rd Airborne Brigade some years later. We departed North Carolina via C141 cargo plane on our way to Turkey and after a long and very boring flight we landed in Istanbul and unloaded our CONEX containers and vehicles for the move farther west. We convoyed west along the highway until we entered a tent city built next to a Turkish Commando base. The Commandos would be participating in our exercise but I never really saw them during our time there. We spent the next two days reconning the drop zone and preparing for the arrival of the rest of our battalion who would make a night mass parachute drop after flying straight from North Carolina.

I was tasked to be the jeep driver for the Drop Zone Safety Officer (DZSO) so at the appointed time and place I was dozing off in the sparsely cushioned seat of an M151 jeep when I heard the unmistakable sound of low flying aircraft. The DZSO was taking wind readings and talking to the lead aircraft via the radio that was on the other seat of the vehicle. The wind reading was 10 knots gusting to 13 knots which was the maximum limit for a static line parachute jump such as the one being attempted. Either way it was a little windy and pitch black. By straining my eyes I could make out the darker outlines of the aircraft against the night sky. Suddenly I saw little green chem lights shooting out the tail of multiple aircraft as the heavy drop of vehicles and equipment was released prior to the jumpers. These chem lights were attached to the cargo parachutes rigged on this equipment. Heavy drops were normally released at the leading edge of the drop zone so as not to clutter the rest of the landing area for the personnel.

However on this particular night after flying thousands of miles in total darkness and conducting nape of the earth low level flight for 2 hours prior to the jump the Air Force got it a little wrong. The lead sortie of aircraft released their equipment in the center of the drop zone which did two things. Number one it pushed their troops off the edge of the drop zone forcing many of them to land in a water filled canal that was 500 meters from te trailing edge. Number two when the trailing birds adjusted for the error they dropped their troops smack dab on the equipment that had been previously dropped. Factor pitch blackness and high winds into the equation and you had a recipe for disaster. After all jumpers where away we started driving across the drop zone using blackout lights trying to estimate the number of injured and confused paratroopers. Along the way I happened to find a few members of my platoon and they hitched a ride to our platoon assembly area. A few of them like my friend Roger had actually been dragged by their parachutes down the shallow canal like bobsledders on their back. He told me how he struggled to release one of his canopy risers as the water kept flowing over his helmet and into his mouth and nose. After finally releasing the riser he stopped being dragged but he had to retrieve his soaked rucksack and sodden parachute and start navigating to the assembly area. He was especially upset because the disposable camera he had in his ruck was ruined. He was very glad to see us. As dawn approached all individuals were accounted for and we started hearing the war stories and rumors of injuries, things like our battalion commander slamming full force into a large truck that was on the drop zone (this one was true he was sent back home and spent 3 weeks in the hospital) or the guy who landed in some village and was arrested by the local police ( not true).

We moved out on foot and for the next two weeks we walked and walked and walked all over the Turkish countryside lugging our heavy mortar equipment with us. Occasionally we would get a fire mission and we would run some dry fire drills dropping imaginary mortar rounds onto imaginary reference points or objectives. The whole time we conducted the exercise I never knew where we were on the map and it was all I could do to slog through the muddy freshly plowed fields. It was 3 years later when I attended Ranger School when I was taught the importance of keeping all members of your unit informed. I give our platoon leader an F on that little skill. Every night we would set up the guns and sleep beside them, waiting with one ear next to the field telephone for the sound of "Section!!!" which indicated an incoming fire mission.

Eventually we made it back to the tent city for some R and R prior to leaving to go back to the States. The first night in the tents we managed to obtain some Turkish Arak, which is a liquor similar to Sambuka or Raki. If you have never had any of those they are all clear and taste like black licorice and will kick you butt. We mixed this liquor with the dried fruit we pilfered from our first generation Meals Ready to Eat to make a jungle juice par excellance'. After about 2 hours we where howling at the moon and rolling through the bonfire outside the tent. Bobby burned his hand in the fire but we told him to quit his whining and have another canteen cup full of the juice. The next day we all had heads the size of fresh watermelons but we were told we would be getting a cultural tour of Istanbul. This was actually pretty cool, we visited the Grand Mosque and other attractions. I bought a little ivory jewelry box for some reason. I kept the box and 2 years later I gave it to my wife who at the time I hadn't even met. She still has it. Later on that evening we went to the Kervan Seray night club and were treated with a show featuring traditional dancers. We drank a bunch of beer and things were going along well until we reached the beer limit established by the chain of command and also discovered we had been locked into the night club. I guess the muckety mucks didn't want any drunk and testosterone filled paratroops invading downtown Istanbul. Disheartened and half sloshed we used all the money we had left to bribe one of the waiters to provide us with some alcohol. He delivered us ten bottles of the most god awful red house wine I have ever drank. Of course we proceeded to polish those off and the night ended with us doing jump commands and Parachute Landing Falls off the tables of the night club.

The next day we poured ourselves into the planes taking us back home and lifted off for our refuel stop in Madrid Spain. The flight back was no picnic as this was still the Cold War. Our route took us close to the airspace of some Eastern Block countries and our pilot did some pretty nifty evasive manuevers when he reported we where being shadowed by two unknown MIG Aircraft. I expected a air to air missle to come through the fuselage at any moment. Eventually we landed in Madrid however and had a 4 hour layover that was prolonged when after takeoff our landing gear woudl not retract and we had to make an emergency landing back at the airport. Rumor had it the Security Police had the bomb sniffing dogs out giving the plane a once over.Finally we landed back at Pope Air Force Base and Fort Bragg. I was happy to be back in the States.

Post Script: As I write this blog entry it has been one year since my good friend Roger was killed in a bicycle accident. Airborne All the way

Quad Cities Marathon 2010

2010-09-30T22:36:00.000-05:00

So last Sunday had disaster written all over it. I had registered and committed to doing the Quad Cities Marathon, that however was not the disastrous part since this was my 5th marathon the experience was not new to me. But several things did make it a gamble. This was my first marathon in the two years since I had knee surgery, I had originally planned to do the Des Moines Marathon but had cut my training short by 3 weeks because frankly I was pressed for time to get the long runs in. Speaking of long runs it turned out the longest training run I did was 16 miles and I walked part of that, I had also only ran three days a week to try and keep my knee in good shape. I had been mountain biking the other days. So although I knew I would finish, when and how tired I would be was a big old question mark.

So I got up at about 0430 Sunday morning and drove the 100 miles to Moline Il. I arrived at 0630 for a 0730 start. I found the check-in table and grabbed my swag bag, which included my number,timing chip, and coveted t-shirt. I continued to hydrate with one of the two 32 ounce Gatorades I had purchused at a convenience store on the way down. I had finished the other on the drive. The Quad Cities for those that don't know consists of Moline, IL.,Rock Island, Il., Davenport, Ia. and Bettendorf, Ia. The start line of the marathon would be in Moline but the race itself would go through all 4 cities.

Because of my apprehension about my training I decided to hang with a pace group something I had never really done before. I found the guy holding the sign indicating he would be running a 10:52 per mile pace which equated to a 4hr and 45 min marathon. I thought I could handle that pace. The gentleman acting as Pacer was named Paul W. Paul had completed 26 other marathons and 3 ultra-marathons and was 54 years old. A good pacer must be congenial, conversational and above all stay on pace. Paul was all of these. Before the race started I hit the Porto Potty again and removed my hat for our national anthem. The race with started with the firing of a civil war cannon and off we went. Our pace group had about 10 people to start but more on that later.

The first two miles of the race were flat through the downtown area of Moline, we then turned north and crossed the mighty Mississippi river for the first time crossing over on the interstate bridge which the authorities had blocked one north bound lane. Paul kept up a constant stream of banter as we crossed over the river. It was a very eerie feeling when the bridge started to sway and bounce in rhythm with the thousands of pounding feet. Coming off the bridge we were in Bettendorf, Iowa and we encountered the first of a few hills on the route this started about mile 5 and continued for a mile or so then we took a right and made a 3 mile circuit of Bettendorf. I marveled how fast the first 5 miles had flown by as we talked and kept our steady pace. Paul was very good and announced our splits every mile, he would announce our actual time versus our goal time and we were generally no more than 3-4 seconds one way or the other. At about the 10 mile mark we started heading west along the river as we crossed into Davenport, Iowa, we had gained a little on our pace and Paul was actually disappointed that we were now averaging 37 seconds faster than out goal. He vowed to slow the pace down and keep that 37 second cushion for the rest of the race. He managed to do this by the way.

At mile 12 we once again crossed the Mississippi this time heading south, we had lost about 1/2 our pace group with 2 forging ahead and 3 falling behind. This time we were in Rock Island IL. and in no time we crossed back over half the river and we were on the US Army Rock Island Arsenal, which was actually on an island. This is were I first noticed I was starting to get fatigued but it wasn't an overwhelming fatigue and I was still keeping up with Paul no problem. It was on this island between miles 13 and 19 where we just ground out the miles and got into the rhythm of the race. I got a little nostalgic as I passed the officers quarters and saw the same style nameplates,quarters and street names I had seen on a dozen other military posts. Paul was an engineer by trade and was doing math in his head as he calculated how much time we had left and what our splits would be. Me being me I started to tease him and called him the "numbers guy."
Here are some Paulism's that were uttered during the race:

"Age is a moving target." "Connect your head to your heart." and "One time I pissed blood when I finished a race."

That last one is funny I don't care who you are. So anyway as we left the Island we crossed the 20 mile mark and the real second half of the race began. It is after mile twenty when it becomes mind over matter. As luck would have it mile 20-23 were along a deserted bike trail between the river and some warehouses. No scenery and all the bands and spectators from earlier in the race had decided to congregate elsewhere. This was the loneliest part of the race for me as we were down to myself, two other guys and Paul in our pace groups. No one was doing much talking. At mile 23 we emerged back onto the street we had started on in Moline but we had to run away from the finish at first. The last 3.1 miles were an out and back course along this road and as I saw the faster runners heading my way towards the finish I kept reminding myself there was only a 5K left to the end. So we slogged along and as we rounded the turn to run the last 1.5 miles or so back to the finish I noticed I was the only runner from our original pace group that was still hanging with Paul. As we made the turn he said" If you have any energy it won't hurt my feelings if you want to go ahead." I told him " I am already using it." In reality I had decided that I had begun the race with Paul and I would finish with him.

So we made it back downtown to the cheering crowds with myself and Paul crossed the finish line together in 4 hours 44 minutes and 17 seconds about a perfect a race as could have been run. I discovered when I got back home and looked at my logs that this qualified as my third fastest marathon time. I want to thank Paul though because of his course management, steady pace, forcing us to walk at water breaks, forcing us to take water, I finished this race feeling better than I ever had at the finish of a marathon. Following a pace group was definitely worth it.

Wrong Place Wrong Time

2010-09-22T20:23:00.000-05:00

We pulled up below the military crest of the small hillock and dismounted our vehicles as quietly as possible. It was just before end evening nautical twilight (EENT) and we were switching out split teams at our hide location. My half of the Special Forces team had arrived to relieve our compadres who had been on site the last 24 hours harassing Iraqi armored forces with airstrikes and relaying back intelligence to the Joint Special Operations Task Force (JSOTF). Once our in-brief was over and we took over security, my junior Weapons Sergeant relayed to me a funny story about how earlier in the day a B2 bomber had requested to deploy some unexpended ordinance (bombs) and was wondering if anyone in the area had a target of opportunity. The Air Force Combat Controller that was attached to our team had already plotted the coordinates of one of the larger bunkers that were occupying the ridgeline across the valley from our location. He gave the coordinates to the aircraft and told them to have at it. To everyone’s surprise and amusement shortly after that, what looked like an entire platoon of Iraqi soldiers exited the bunker and lined up dress right dress on the hillside beside the bunker. Well it wasn’t to long before that hillside was lit up like the Fourth of July with the ground shaking concussions and shrapnel of some 1000 pound bombs. After the dust cleared my junior Weapon’s Sergeant told me all they could see was a red stain on the side of the hill. Bad day to take a smoke break!!! Morbid but still funny.

He also told me that they had observed what appeared to be a small pickup truck moving around the valley and in and out of the Iraqi lines unimpeded all day. At one point the guys thought the occupants of this vehicle might have taken a few shots at them but they couldn’t confirm as it was too far away for effective fire. Just as the other half of the team was loading their gear into the vehicle to head back to our patrol base one of the guys whispered that they had spotted the pickup again and it was heading our way. We watched through our optics for awhile to see if it would turn but it was obvious that its current route would take it right directly through our location. Instantly a hasty plan was formulated, the split team members that had been leaving would conduct a hasty ambush while I and the other half of the team would remain where we were and support by fire.

Quickly they grabbed the squad automatic weapon and their rifles and moved perpendicular to the projected route of the pickup. Watching through binoculars in the fading light I saw them emplace the ambush and as the truck drew nearer I trained my own M4 on the cab. Everyone was at a high state of alertness when the vehicle suddenly stopped and one of the occupants got out to relieve himself. He was followed shortly by two of his buddies. They about shit themselves when our senior Weapons Sergeant and our interpreter popped up from the side of the road and told them to drop their weapons and get face down on the ground. They were quickly flex cuffed using the flex cuffs we all carried in our gear and frog marched over to my position. The three were dressed in typical Iraqi Kurd garments and where armed with AK-47 rifles. After a few questions from our interpreter that mainly resulted in denials from the prisoners we blindfolded them with cravats from the M5 medical bag and loaded them in one of our vehicles. It was decided I would take them back to base camp and one of the Peshmerga that was accompanying us would drive their vehicle.

Myself and the split team we had relieved made the bumpy ten kilometer trip back to Klaw Kut with the prisoners in the back of our vehicle, blindfolded and eating the dust kicked up by the back tires. Once we arrived at the patrol base about midnight we rousted our Team Leader and briefed him on the situation. Our Communications Sergeant sent a situation report back to the AOB (Company HQ) informing them we had captured some prisoners, meanwhile our Team Leader conducted a hasty field interrogation with the help of our interpreter. He individually brought the prisoners into a small room, unblind folded them, and gave them food and water as he asked them what they had been doing. They were obviously scared shitless and once the blind folds were off they gave one word answers and kept their eyes glued to the M4 rifles we carried loosely in our hands.

Not getting much out of them the decision was made to transport them back to the AOB and eventually to turn them over to the Military Police. Unfortunately the closest MP was somewhere south close to Baghdad but that wasn’t our problem. As we exited the small room we heard a commotion and some yelling. We saw that in the darkness a small crowd had gathered around our team and the other two prisoners who had been standing outside. Word travels fast, (telephone, telegraph, tell a Kurd) and what looked like all the village elders had surrounded our prisoners and were yelling at them and shaking their fists and shoes in their faces. My guys were trying to calm them down but not speaking much Kurdish they were having no luck.

Our interpreter finally figured out that these individuals were known to the villagers, and in fact in it was alleged they were former Peshmerga that had defected a few weeks before. Peshmerga or not we were very suspicious at their ability to drive freely through the Iraqi lines. The prisoners claimed it was all a mistake and they were just some poor Peshmerga that had gotten separated from their unit in no man’s land. Discretion the better part of valor we replaced the blindfolds and loaded them in the vehicles once again. The last I saw of them as our Team Leader drove them away to the AOB, they were sitting in the back of the Land Rover being chased by children who were hurling small rocks and shoes at them. Deserters,defectors, or just plain bad navigators these guys had definitely showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Extracurricular Activities #2: High School Sports Official

2010-09-18T14:36:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I posted about how sometimes in addition to my regular job I also volunteer as an Emergency Medical Technician at a rural ambulance service. In addition to this activity I also do another quite regularly. I am a High School Sports Official for the Iowa High School Athletic Association. I officiate 3 sports pretty much keeping me busy year round. I officiate Football, Wrestling, and Baseball. To become a registered official in Iowa you have to pass a written rules test and pay your dues. Most officials also belong to some kind of officials association. I belong to the Cedar Rapids Area Officials Association (Football), The Iowa City Area Officials Association ( Baseball, Football), and the Eastern Iowa Wrestling Officials Association (Wrestling). These associations mentor officials, provide training, and generally assign lower level contests Junior Varsity and below. Varsity contests are arranged between the official and the host school and an official needs to get a reputation and get his or her name out there for a few years to get these contests..

Wrestling was the sport I started officiating first and it is my favorite sport. Not really a surprise but it is also the only sport in High School that I participated in at the Varsity level. The state I grew up in and currently live in is one of the hotbeds of Collegiate style (Folkstyle) Wrestling. The University of Iowa Hawkeyes have won the last 3 NCAA Wrestling Championships and are second all time in number of national championships won. People in this state take their wrestling serious and it is as popular as any of the "revenue" sports like football or basketball. I started officiating wrestling shortly after I got out of the military. I was attending the state AAU youth championships as a spectator and I approached one of the officials and asked how I could become one. He gave me a phone number and the rest is history. Wrestling is unique among the sports I officiate. It is the only sport where the official is solo. An official has to live and die with his call, there is no one to confer with and no one to blame but himself if a call is blown. Officiating wrestling can be exciting but the pressure is incredible. Alone on the mat in a crowded gymnasium with the crowd almost on top of you, an official must be quick, athletic and knowledgeable if he is expecting to do a good job. The nuances of the sport and the changes in control can be quite intimidating at first. I have been officiating wrestling for 6 years from Varsity level to youth.

Football is the sport I started officiating second. One of the guys who mentored me as a wrestling official suggested I give it a try. I did and I liked it. I started out my first year doing Junior Varsity contests and below working all the positions on 3,4, and occasionally 5 man crews. My second year I was invited to join a Varsity crew as a Back Judge. I really enjoy the camaraderie of football officiating. It is sometimes like your officiating crew is the 3rd team on the field. We really work together as a unit to get the call right and to look sharp. Our goal is to administer the game fairly by the rules but to go unnoticed while doing it. It is a great compliment to be told you did a good job even by the losing coach. Football Friday nights in Iowa are electric as they are in all parts of the country. Marching bands are playing, the crowd is in to it, and the kids are hustling on the field. Officiating a well played football game can be very satisfying, on the other hand a bad game or one with a lot of poor sportsmanship can be very tedious. As a Back Judge on my varsity crew I don't throw a lot of flags but when I have to they are generally game changers. Pass interference calls mostly and the penalties for that infraction both ways are very punitive. 15 yards and a loss of down or an automatic first down depending on who committed the foul. You have to make sure those calls are correct. I have been officiating football for 5 years from Varsity level to youth.

Baseball is the johhny come lately. I started umpiring baseball to round out the year and because I really like watching baseball. Baseball has a culture all its own, it is the only sport where it is acceptable for the coach to come on the field of play and argue a call with the umpire.They tone it down quite a bit in High School but a certain amount of showmanship is still tolerated. I like behind the plate but working the bases is all right as well. Nothing beats being behind the plate on a nice summer evening calling balls and strikes. Baseball is the sport I really have to study both because the rules are very complicated and because I actually never really played baseball beyond little league. I believe I have made myself into a pretty decent umpire however and I pride myself that my strike zone is consistent. I have been officiating Baseball for 4 years from Varsity to youth.

I like officiating and like anything else I would like to be the best I can be. I want to possibly " white hat" at the Varsity level in football someday and I would love to officiate at the college level in all sports. Both of those things are going to require hard work and a little luck. being at the right place at the right time helps. At the end of the day I just enjoy being involved in the competition, and hope in some small way I am contributing to the positive development of the student-athlete.

New Bo Fest Half Marathon 2010

2010-09-06T08:04:00.000-05:00

The Inaugural New Bo Fest Half Marathon was the first half marathon held in my hometown in about 15 years I think. Despite just finishing a mountain bike race the weekend before I wasn't going to miss a chance to be in on the first running of a race right here in the local area. So the race as the name suggests started in the New Bohemia area of Cedar Rapids. This area is still struggling mightily to recover from the flood of 2008 and almost every building except the one we started at, which happened to be a bar, was boarded up or closed. It is sad really, the point of the festival is to showcase the area and maybe get people to visit but it may take a few more years to make that happen. The race had about 300 entrants so it was small, I expect it will grow larger as the word gets out. This first year was pretty minimalist, entrants got a t-shirt and a goodie bag which is normal but the t-shirt was the same for finishers and volunteers and no finishers medals were handed out. I did like the fact though that the t-shirt was a cotton blend and not one of those tech shirts most races are found of handing out. When I run a race I want to wear the shirt and those tech shirts just don't really lend themselves to everyday wear, I much prefer a cotton shirt.

I met a fellow wrestling official who was also running the race and we chatted before the start, he mentioned this was his first half marathon and he was shooting for under 2 hours. I mentioned that I felt like crap from working outside the whole day prior and was using this as a training run for my upcoming marathon. Just prior to the start we told each other good luck and I moved to my normal place at the back of the starting pack. A local news personality started the race with a rather quick "ready, set, go" and we were off!!! I started out at an easy jog fully intending to get the most out of my money and run the race at training pace or slower.

The first mile was easy along city streets then we headed out of town along the river, it was shortly after this first mile that I saw my friend just ahead so I got up beside him and we talked a little more, it was about then when I remembered that I had been gabbing and forgot to hit the porto potty pre-race. So when I saw an inviting group of trees I headed into the bush to do my business. He kept running of course. When I was done I happened to be at the base of what was the start of a group of fairly steep but short hills between miles 2 and 4. Something I have noticed is that when I run I usually pass a lot of people on hills. They catch up later but I guess all that road marching just made me strong on uphills. So I powered up this hill and eventually caught up with my friend and with a wave and a few words I passed him. I was feeling pretty good and holding a steady pace through mile 4.

Mile 5-7 was fairly flat and along a country road, I continued to hold a steady pace but I could feel the heat start to rise as the day progressed. At race start it had been overcast and fairly cool but now the sun was out. Water stops were about every mile or mile and a half and the even had a GU station at mile 6. I had to stop somewhere in this stretch and tighten my knee brace up as the velcro was coming loose. At mile 7 we got off the hard surface road and hit the Sac and Fox trail as the course started turning back towards the start.

The trail was a little rough at first, it was showing the effects of the heavy rains we had experienced a few days before and rocks and sticks were everywhere. I turned my ankle slightly on one of the rocks but for the most part the sandy/dirt surface of the trail felt better than the pavement had. This part of the race was the most tedious and it is also where I think I lost some time. It was harder to run in the sandy soil and also running through the woods along the river it was hard to see ahead and behind. It felt unlike a race and more like I was running on my own. I could see people up ahead but no one behind. This went on for 3-4 miles while I tried to maintain a pace with really no references. Miles were not marked and there were no water stops on the trail.

At mile 10 we popped out of the woods and hit the pavement back into town, back along the first 3 miles of the course. Up one more very steep hill ( thanks music guy that was the perfect place for your motivational tunes) and it was fairly flat until the end. I continued to try and maintain a steady pace even with all the jack rabbits behind me speeding up and passing me in the last mile. It is a personal point of pride with me I don't sprint at the end to beat someone, people who do irritate me because it means they have to much energy left. At least that is what I think. Turning the corner I saw the finish line ahead and steadily ran on through.

I looked at my time and I had missed my PR by about 6 minutes. I had lost a lot of time on the trail but still it was a good steady pace and I was satisfied with my time. I grabbed a Kolache, banana, and some Gatorade and went back to the finish to see if my buddy was coming in. I waited about 30 minutes and never saw him. When I got to my car his truck was gone. Since I know he didn't pass me I must have missed him when I got my food and drink. All in all it was a good race, they will be posting results later today.

http://www.newbohemia.org/BoFest_Half%20MarathonDiv_Report.HTM

Sugar Bottom Scramble 2010

2010-08-29T21:22:00.000-05:00

OK, so again I entered the fray and tried my second mountain bike race of the year. My first attempt at mountain bike racing did not go very well at all as I wrote about in this post : http://mikemac356.blogspot.com/2010/04/decorah-time-trials-aka-suck-fest-2010.html

Normally I run, I am not much of a mountain biker although I do enjoy it, I was pretty apprehensive about this race but having said I would do it by God I was going to do it. The Sugar Bottom Scramble was billed as the Iowa State Mountain Bike Championships and the race was held 23 miles south of where I currently live so it was definitely convenient. The course would be run on the mountain bike trails in the Sugar Bottom recreation area around the Coralville Reservoir.

Things didn't start out the best as I was on call at the ambulance service the night prior to the race and as luck would have it we got a couple calls that were spaced out so I really didn't get much rest. I also could not find my bike tools, extra tube or chain lube in my newly cleaned garage. I did try to hydrate though and I definitely succeeded as I had to use the porto potty several times before the race started. Myself and Jessie arrived about 0900 for the 1000 start of the Cat 3(beginner) category. We had to walk about 400 meters to the sign in point where I filled out the necessary waivers, then Jessie stayed there while I went back to the car to get my bike and equipment. The first thing I noticed about this race as compared to the time trials earlier in the year was everyone didn't look like Lance Armstrong. There actually looked like there was a few guys I could beat and everyone was not wearing spandex. The atmosphere was much friendlier and less cliquish.

At 1000 we all lined up on the gravel round headed east for the mass start, there was 27 of us Cat 3 riders as well as 3 Collegiate Division guys that had decided to race with us. I stayed to the back of the pack not really knowing what to expect with the mass start. After a few words of encouragement the race organizer blew a whistle and I hit the start button on my GPS and away I went. I was at the back of the pack as we pedaled down the road and up a steep hill, as we climbed the hill the first rider fell out as he was having chain issues. I passed him and took a right into the woods.

The first thing I noticed was that the trails were not as difficult as the ones at Decorah as well as being dry. Decorah had been brutal as well as muddy. The course went generally downhill for the first two miles and I was keeping one of the collegiate riders in my field of vision as I shifted gears into the second chain ring and concentrated on keeping my pedals spinning over the roots and around the turns. Somewhere in the first two miles the rider with the chain problem passed me on a turn and I was dead last. No problem I thought I just need to finish. The chain guy had issues two more times and we passed each other twice in the next two miles until he must have resolved the problem and he pulled away and I never saw him for the rest of the race.

Approximately mile 4 I passed the collegiate rider who had been slowing down since we entered the uphill section, at mile 4.6 I passed two more riders on a hairpin turn, they were stopped and looked like they had some medical issues. I resolved to keep a steady pace. 5 miles into the race we popped back out onto the gravel road this time heading west, I knew that we were about half way but I also knew the most technical part of the course was to come. My legs were starting to fell the burn from all the climbing in the first 5 miles. As we entered the woods again we paralleled the lake for about .5 miles and the cool breeze and the boats on the water made me glad I had entered this race. As we crossed the road again I saw a long uphill section of single track and slipped down into the easiest gears.

I was alone, I could see no one ahead nor hear anyone behind. I kept pedaling telling myself no matter how slow I went I needed to keep pedaling and not to coast. We were hitting intermediate and expert level trails at this point and there were several places were I had to push the bike uphill when I lost momentum on an obstacle. We crossed and recrossed a little creek on wooden plank bridges that were usually followed by steep rocky uphill climbs. It was at mile 6.8 as I was going down hill on a particular steep and rooted section of the course that I got too far over my handle bars and went ass over teakettle. Bike going one way and me the other. Unlike Decorah this was my only crash and I recovered quickly jumping back on the bike and heading down the trail. I heard voices ahead and saw an incredibly steep hill with people standing at the top. From pre race recon I knew this must be the double black diamond "Cyclocross Hill." Discretion being the better part of valor at this point, I just hopped off my bike and ran and pushed my bike up the hill. I waved to the spectators as I hammered it ( for me anyway) towards the finish line, which I knew was less than a mile ahead. I rode passed the finish line as Jessie clapped for me. This race was much better than my previous experience. For one thing I didn't finish dead last and I actually enjoyed myself. I will definitely be doing this race again next year.

Addendum: GO Mikey GO!!http://www.flickr.com/photos/13292076@N08/4944210486/in/set-72157624721249001/lightbox/

What a Great Day

2010-08-23T20:45:00.000-05:00

Today was great day, for a 12 hour period I was back in the fold. I was once again an Action Guy if only for a day. My employer asked me a few months ago if I would be interested in becoming certified as an Oleoresin Capsicum Aerosol Projector Instructor, or as they say on COPS good old pepper spray. Never being in the habit of turning down free training I agreed. So as luck would have it at O'dark thirty this morning I was headed north to the land of Cheeseheads. Arriving in plenty of time at the Dane County (WI) Law Enforcement training center I took a short nap in the parking lot waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.About 0745 I walked into the class room and immediately I felt comfortable and self conscious at the same time. I was happy because I hadn't seen that many weapons, black shirts and velcro since I left Special Forces, these were my people, however I was a little uneasy because I had no law enforcement background and the majority of these guys were SWAT team members from various agencies. I did what I always do in a situation like this, I took a seat in the back and shut my mouth.

At 0800 our instructor started talking,he was from Georgia and a former Chief of Police and SWAT team leader of 20+ years. His southern accent and good old boy attitude took me back to almost every class I ever took at the Infantry Center. For the next 5 hours he regaled us with the nomenclature, effects, deployment options, and tactical employment of Pepper Spray. Right after lunch we took a written test and once the formalities were out of the way we went to the range to spray and be sprayed. I felt the old familiar nervous energy mount as we practiced. Spraying inert OC Spray we moved laterally and subdued imaginary attackers. Soon enough playtime was over and it was time for the final exercise. The final evolution would involve getting a one second spray of live Pepper Spray to the eyes immediately followed by a "fight through drill." The drill was designed to give the student confidence they could handle being sprayed and still accomplish their mission as well giving them credibility when they discussed the effects. This was similar to what I did as a high altitude parachutist each time we re-qualled in the hyperbaric chamber.

So it was my turn, the instructor told me to close my eyes and hold my breathe, he then gave me a good shot of spray in the eyes. The next command was "blink" to make sure it got in the old eyeballs. I then ran about 30 feet to the first station where I delivered 5 right elbow strikes and 5 left to the pad being held by a fellow student. It was burning a little but no big deal, it was between the first and second stations where the spray kicked in. It started burning so bad I lost my breathe and stumbled slightly, I could feel some trickle into the corner of my mouth and my mustache was on fire. I got to the next pad and delivered a set of 10 knee strikes 5 on each side, at this point my adrenaline had kicked in and between the intense burning and my concentration I had developed tunnel vision on the task at hand. I grabbed the training baton for the next station and sprinted over to the pad delivering 5 forward and 5 backhand strikes. Last but not least I was handed a training pistol and approached my last classmate in the toe/heel fashion of walking I had learned in countless shoot house hours. I was yelling at him to get down as my weapon was trained on him. He was instructed not to comply until I identified the number of fingers he was holding over his head. "Get down, Get down, Three fingers, Get your hands behind your back!!!!!" I simulated handcuffing him and went into the officer distress position as we had been briefed.

At that point the instructor instructed the the safety officer to lead me to the decontamination station, this process required a lot of water and baby shampoo. Flush,Flush,Flush the eyes with water and soap. Blot with a paper towel, rinse and repeat. At this point I was losing my adrenaline rush and almost felt nauseous. Eventually though the pain was manageable and we went inside for a critique, 2 hours after being sprayed I was allowed to drive the 3 hours back home. As I type this 6 hours later my hand that was grasping the weapons and my cheeks are still burning. But what a great day.

Kraut Route 5K and other nonsense

2010-08-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

So last weekend was a very busy one although unintended, I had scheduled myself to be on duty at the Lisbon Mt Vernon Ambulance Service on Saturday morning and too late I realized it was the same day as the St. Jude's Sweet Corn 5K which I run every year, not wanting to leave the service hanging without coverage I registered instead for the Lisbon Sauerkraut days 5K which I had never run before. My intention was to run about 10 miles before the race and use the race as part of my training for my upcoming marathon. This was not to be as a all hell broke loose at work Friday night and I ended up getting somewhere between 1 and 3 hours of sleep and not all at once.

Since no plan survives first contact I adapted and decided just to run the 5K. This 5K was a small local race in a small community. There were 200 registered runners and it had none of the fanfare of some of the other races I have participated in. As usual I started off at the back of the pack and worked my way through the crowd. My intention was to just jog and that is what I did for most of the first part. The course started out flat but then after about a mile we encountered some rather large hills. The last hill to the turn around was pretty steep and probably about 3/4 to one mile long. It was while I was motoring steadily up this hill that I saw a guy I knew coming downhill after turning around. Lets just say he and I do not see eye to eye.

Me being me it then became my Ranger mission to run this guy down and beat him in the race. Don't worry that we are both over 40 and our fastest days are well behind us, rivalry and male ego do not have a age limit. So I picked it up making the turnaround and lengthening my stride as I went downhill. I could see him in the distance cresting the next hill and as I hit the bottom of that hill I tried to keep my pace the same. I steadily gained ground on him until I was close enough to see hear his labored breathing (between my own breathes). On the next uphill he slowed and I did not and I went running past him not even looking to give him the satisfaction of eye contact. He ate my dust, my mission then became to put as much distance between myself and him as possible. I kept up the pace feeling pretty good about myself until up ahead who should I see but the same 8 or 9 year old kid that just beat me at the 5K I ran on July 4th. I decided to run him down as well and get the old double play. So I picked it up again and caught up to him, as I was pulling even he slowed to a walk.

Right then and there my thinking changed, I went from super-competitive Former Action Guy to a guy who admires effort and heart. I looked that young man in the eye and said " You beat me on the 4th, are you going to let an old fat guy beat you today?" He looked at me and without so much as a word he took off on a dead sprint as only the young can do. I tried to keep up with him but the hills had taken the kick right out of me and he ended up beating me by 20 seconds or so. After the race he disappeared and I didn't get a chance to tell him he had run a good race. I beat my last 5k race time by almost a minute and beat Mr. Attitude by over two minutes,put that in your pipe and smoke it.

http://results.active.com/pages/displayNonGru.jsp?rsID=97655
When I got back to the ambulance garage I ended up driving the ambulance in the festival parade and throwing out candy, later that day as I was finally trying to take a nap we got a page for medical assistance at a fire which ended up involving 6 fire departments and our ambulance service. We were on scene about 5 hours. Needless to say when I got home I went to bed early that evening