Freezefest 5K Race

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

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

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)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

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

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