Back Home from the Big (Un) Easy

Well I'm home and waiting to see when we might be headed back to New Orleans.

We left downtown at 4:30 pm eastern time on Saturday. We were able to go about 30 miles in the first 4.5 hours. Then over the next 4 hours, from Slidell, LA to Tuscaloosa,AL we were lucky when when we could go 60 mph on I-59.

After I handed off in Tuscaloosa, and went to sleep for what would wind up being a total of 3 hours of cat napping, traffic thinned out and we ran around 75 mph for the rest of the drive back.

We spent 17 hours on the road.

New Orleans was like a ghost town when we left yesterday. A city of about 1.2 million people reduced to a few stragglers, police and national guard soldiers.

I made it home in time to go to hear Jina sing with 5 other ladies at our second service. They did great, but I felt awkward and out of place. After seeing life turned completely on its head, it was hard to see life and people go on as is nothing was happening. I was actually glad that Jina, after staying for the entire first service, decided to leave after singing in the second service.

We went from there to grab a bite to eat, I was dying to eat some vegetables after eating nothing but Power Bars, South Beach Meal bars, Trail mix and one McDonalds' grilled chicken value meal for 36 hours, I was craving fruit and vegetables. That proved to be a mistake also. Again, hard to go from world upside down, to life as normal in 18 hours.

I've spent the afternoon bouncing between the Weather Channel, FoxNews, CNN, ESPN (for the UofL/UK football game), and cat napping.

Now it will be a matter of determining when we go back, what our role will be, what staff will come back (I anticipate most of them having to deal with their personal property first), what supplies we'll need (we have a pass to get into the city, but until it is opened up to the general population, once we are in we will have to be completely self sufficient and unable to leave the city), and I believe it will be prudent to consider what personal security measures we might need.

That's about it, hard to think about much of anything else right now.

Gustav, again

Well, Change of plans again.

We had three choices here in New Orleans.

1)Ride out the storm at the 100 year old hotel in the heart of downtown where we were staying. The walls are 3 feet thick, the hotel is elevated on a raised lot, and it has it's on generator, all of which allowed it to remain open during Katrina.

2)Head to our alternate rooms in Lake Charles, LA or our secondary alternates in Houston.

3)Drive 11 hours back to Louisville, pick up additional personnel and supplies and return next Wednesday.

The hotel told me on check in today that they were shutting down on Sunday, staying open last time was a mistake, seems tourist decided to stay, but were not prepared mentally to be stranded for an extended period of time. That's OK, we had pretty much ruled out staying.

Lake Charles, now sits in the expected path of the storm and Houston, normally a 6 hour drive is estimated at taking 13 hours to reach due to evacuation traffic.

So, my collegue and I will be headed north, hopefully around 3 pm on Saturday, for what mapquest says is a 707 mile, 11 hr drive. Well, that doesn't factor in that we still have to deal with the exodus traffic leaving New Orleans. So, who knows when we'll get home.

Enough of my adventures, I'm getting ready to go jump on the treadmill and burn off a couple of miles. Gotta keep running, but definitely looks like no long run this weekend. Maybe Monday. Also looks like I want be running the Utica 5K, or making my kids' soccer games. Of course some of that will depend on what tropical storm Hanna does. She's making folks nervous since she changed course earlier today.

Maybe I'll post again on Monday. Have a good weekend.

James

Gustav

As I type this I'm wrapping up a bowl of cereal and preparing to head to the airport.

If I get in a long run this week, it will be in New Orleans. I'm headed down this morning to finish wrapping up shutting down our operations and then await the storm either in New Orleans or Lake Charles.

Looking like Thursday of next week is the earliest I'll have a chance to come home. If the storm hits NO, who knows what our game plan will wind up being. Hope I'm home in time to run the Utica 5K next weekend.

Oh well, got to go.

Hooking up with an Old Flame

I went to my class reunion on Friday night. Not much to talk about, light showing for a combo of the '87/'88 classes. Only two hundred at most from classes which combined for over 1200 graduates.

Anyway, Saturday morning found me hooking up with an old flame. At first it was fun and exciting again. My heart was racing, I felt young and full of energy. An hour later I started to remember the pain that the relationship had caused. It hadn't taken long for the glimmer to wear off and I remembered why I had walked away before.

Saturday night found me back with my wife, attending the spouse night of the reunion. The pain of my earlier folly was still fresh, but I pretended as if nothing had happened and pretended to enjoy the evening. Today, the pain still lingers, yet I find myself longing for another encounter. So this week I'll try to put the pain behind me and then next weekend, slip from my bed and sleeping spouse to hook up with a long run again. This time, 14 miles, who knows maybe I'll start to feel comfortable with it, but for now, I'll savor the pain.

OK folks, if you've never tried it and are wondering, going two months with nothing longer than a 5 or 6 miler and then reeling of a 12 miler is not the brightest idea. Don't do it. I did it to see if I could pick up with where I should be in a marathon training program, but building up slowly is the only smart way to go.

I'm confident I will be fine and will log a 14 miler this week with a friend who is prepping for the same race. To jump straight into this mileage I'm going to have to be much smarter than I've been in the past. I tried that this morning, opting to log an extra 2 hrs of sleep instead of getting up to run. Instead I came home and ran 4 miles after work, 2 of which I was accompanied by Jina on my bike hauling the twins and my oldest son and one of his friends on their bikes. Wow, I felt like an elite, or maybe Lance Armstrong, with my on training entourage.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted on how the training goes, let's see if I can keep it together and do this. For some reason a switch got flipped in my mind this past week and I'm focused in on doing this marathon again.

Side Note: Remember my adulterous relationship in Columbia, SC when I found myself cavorting with a pair of Asic 2130s instead of my loving New Balance 768s. Well Saturday's long run and the resulting hip pain were enough to convince me the Asics had seen enough miles. Me and the 768s hooked back up tonight. I think we can salvage our relationship.

Bits and Pieces

Just a couple of random items to get out of my head.

I should not run a fall marathon. I'm way behind the training curve and life seems destined to stand directly in my path and prevent me from getting on track. Easy thing would be to just write it off, but then comes the olympics which provided some inspiration (more on that a couple of lines down), and then there is a dogged (correct spelling s/b "dawgged", but dictionaries apparently originate north of the Mason Dixon line)determination on my part to just do it. My athletic condition remains solid, soooo...why not just do it! I'll let you know. I'm hoping to get something longer than 5 miles in this Saturday. It will be my first opportunity in close to 2 months to get in a Saturday run.

Wow, a 41 year old swimmer medals at the Olympics, a 38 year old marathoner wins gold, a 31 year old gymnast from Germany medals in vault. (I think their Olympic committee person is dislexic and didn't realize the Chinese said they were letting 13 year olds in, not 31 year olds.) Anyway, it appears there is life after 30. Heck, I thought I was in purgatory for the last eight years, guess it's time to start living again.

Watch this and then don't tell me you can't!

Shout out to Greg Cheney at the blog, Faith First Fitness Programs (listed in my blog list). I followed his lead in posting it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4LMBEBM1qc

Fish Heads, Fish Heads, rolly polly...

...just kidding, you don't have to eat the heads, but eating some fish is good for you.

The following is information gleaned from the July/August Run Midwest magazine, in an article by Nancy Clark, titled The Beat Goes On: Heart Health and Nutrition.

The following foods are good for lowering your LDL (bad cholesterol): oats, barley, soy, beans, almonds/nuts, and plant sterols/stanols added to margerines (check the package). Combine these in your daily diet and you have the potential to make a huge impact on your cholesterol numbers.

Beans and nuts are great sources of protein and filling up on them can steer you away from sources of saturated fat, such as steak.

To reduce the inflammation caused by cholesterol filled plaques in blood vessels eat salmon or other oily fish, walnuts, fiber-rich whole grain, fruits and vegetables, and my favorite inflammation fighter, dark chocolate.

In the fruit category, apricots, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, broccoli and spinach are the "Big Six". This was great news to me. Bananas are some of the cheapest fruits to buy and every time I order the seasonal vegetables when eating out, I always get broccoli. It doesn't seem to matter the season or the part of the country I'm in.

When it comes to fish, 8 ounces per week of salmon, mackeral, sardines (yuck) or herring (cold water fishes rich in Omega-3 fats) can reduce the risk of death from heart disease by 36% and can even up your odds of surviving a heart attack should you have one. Plan at least one lunch with some tuna (low fat mayo) and one salmon dinner entree per week. If you've heard the concerns about PCBs in farm raised fish, you might like to know that Dr. Charles Saterre of Purdue University says the risks are tiny when compared with the benefits, just don't eat the skin, fat, or fat drippings. (why would you eat fat drippings?)

Now that you're eating right, don't forget to exercise. Yes, you need to exercise, but you don't have to kill yourself. Heart health benefits peak at around 2000 calories per week, or the equivalent of running 4 miles per day five times per week. No, you don't have to run. Just be sure to keep an eye on your heart rate and your calories burned and make sure you turn in some quality workouts that total up to at least 2000 calories per week.

Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie...

In my previous post, which I intended mainly to introduce a new blog that had touched on a topic I had before, and of course was in support of my viewpoint, I reminisced about childhood memories of church socials. Based on a couple of responses, I'd like to talk about those "Dinner on Grounds" and their glaring absence from the current church landscape.

Before diving in, let me be clear on a couple of facts. The church I spoke of is a traditional country Southern Baptist congregation dating to the 1860's, nestled in the heart of rural Georgia, (of course Atlanta's expansion is encroaching. perhaps it should be the state of Atlanta...but that's another topic) meeting in a building that looks like it belongs on the cover of the next collection of classic hymns sung by country music stars. My memories are 25 + years old and the church of my childhood and teen years located in Southern Indiana, did not, except for a few "Deacon's Cookouts", put on these types of socials during my childhood and teen years in the 1980's. So not having them is nothing new.

With that said, I lament not experiencing what, based on stories I've heard my parents tell and the old 8mm home movies I saw played on the kitchen wall, appear to have been some wonderful times of fellowship for church members. Even so I fully recognize that in today's culture and pace of life, replicating them is never going to happen. They are, along with large V8s and tail fins, a piece of Americana etched only in our memories. Beyond my generation, you won't even hear about them in sentimental country music ballads.

These days, church fellowship competes with soccer practice, second jobs, mom and dad's work schedules, jr's homework, and a myriad of other activities that we try to cram into the week, for our time and attention. The days are gone where our friends were our neighbors and/or the folks we went to church with. Now it's who we schedule our kids play dates with and who's on jr.'ettes travelling softball team. As stated by a friend who commented on my last post, cooking a dish means skipping Sunday School and "Sorry I can't clean up, my kid has XYZ to attend and we have to get going..." are just a couple of reasons why church "socials" may be more hardship than fellowship these days.

I don't criticize churches for not having them. I don't fault members for not attending. Not attending a church fellowship doesn't mean you're not putting God first. For me, trying to cram too many things, even a church event, into a hectic week leads to frustration and a "sour" heart that isn't open to experiencing and sharing Christ's love and grace with anyone else. Even so, sometimes I feel guilty for not being more active in church activities.

Whether our greed or the changing economic landscape of America has caused it, who knows, but in our current state of dual income households, "kids must play organized sports" families, and not knowing who our neighbors are, it is no surprise that "Dinners on the Grounds" have gone the way of Block Parties and Roller Skating Rinks. I'm old enough to lament their passing, yet young enough to know that nothing stays the same. Heck, based on current trends, some day my treasured hymns will be completely replaced by what one person coined "7/11 Praise Choruses". (The same seven words sung over and over eleven times)...(whoops, don't forget the chord change on repeat #5, it makes all the difference).

My closing point will be this. It isn't the setting that matters. It's the fellowship. Make time, whether with the entire church family, with a small group of Christian friends, or maybe with one close friend, to laugh, to celebrate, and don't forget...TO EAT!

"...I drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry..." (I wish today's cars had tail fins)

A quick note...

I've added a new blog to my "Blogs of interest" list. Interesting topic on the current post, especially if you're a Southern Baptist like me who laments the fact that more SBC churches don't return to their roots and have more church social "dinner on the grounds".

My early childhood church had concrete block columns designed specifically for supporting 4x8 sheets of plywood under a shade tree, for use as a tables. Not for eating, but to set up the service lines. Oh, by the way, I'm not talking about a couple of sections, if memory serves me correctly, it was at least 32 feet long. Yep, a 128 square foot buffet table at a church whose Sunday worship attendance has likely never topped 80 people. That's some serious cooking and eating.

Anyway, the current topic touches on an interesting point about obesity in our churches (not just Southern Baptist Churches) and how we like to pick and choose what we consider sinful, i.e. "drinking alcohol is a sin, eating 4 twinkies a day and 6 tweenty ounce cokes is ok." (my words, not the other bloggers)

Have a good day!

Whoops almost forgot to say that I'd gladly add an extra long run into a week if I could experience another one of those good ol' dinner on the grounds. ;>)

"Turn your eyes upon Jesus...

...look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace." These are the lyrics to one of the hymns I grew up with, and this is the frequent topic of sermons every Sunday across the country.

I've asserted before that the past three plus years of running, for me, has mirrored my life in Christ and this morning I recognized another similarity. Focus.

Take a look back through my posts and you'll find that over the past year, since starting this blog, I've thrown out numerous goals that I hoped to achieve. I've been focused on distance, on times, on fitness level, on weight, on body fat, etc., etc. The reality is that other than general fitness levels and, dare I say, concern with my appearance, I've never remained focused on any one goal for very long.

Our Christian lives can be very similar. We may find ourselves deeply involved and interested in in depth Bible study one minute, faith based community service the next, then church leadership, or perhaps teaching at another point in time. Then life kicks into high gear. School, kids, activities, work, and sometimes even Church responsibilities can capture our attention and cause us to lose focus. I've come to realize that it's OK. I'm going to stumble, I'm going to get lazy, perhaps even lose interest in one thing or another. What I must never do is lose focus on the big picture. In exercising, my short term goals will change, but each one should, and will, contribute to the overall goal of staying in shape and living a healthy lifestyle. In my Christian life, I have, and will, do many different things in an effort to serve the Lord. Some will capture my undivided attention, some I will trudge through, like a long set of ab crunches, but each will contribute to my spiritual fitness.

With the approach of the Olympics, I'm reminded of the US Olympian some years ago who pulled a muscle in the final stretch of a race. He struggled to his feet and continued for the finish line, seeing his son struggle, his dad rushed the track and supported his son. Together they crossed the finish line. As Christians we should train to win, yet we will likely never run the perfect race. When we struggle, we must continue to press forward toward the finish line, and when we see another stumble, we must be willing to lend a hand. If we "train" and then "run" with this same dedication and focus then, "...the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace."

New Training Log

I've changed the information on my training log to show my workouts instead of my total mileage. This will give a better of the type of fitness activities I'm engaging in and if someone is interested, might spark an idea or two to break out of a rut or get started with a new exercise regimen

Lately I have found myself struggling to stay focused on running only, and recent runs felt mundane and boring. I'm trying mix up my training with weight training, sprints, running, plyometrics(jump roping), and bike rides with the family.

On the running front, I'm gearing up for a small 5K in Utica, IN and I haven't completely ruled out a fall marathon, however, I'm battling a hamstring issue deep down in the upper portion of my left leg. Stretching doesn't seem to be helping much and I feel it immediately when I begin a run. If any one has any ideas, let me know, it's becoming very frustrating.

Back From The Big Apple

We're back. I talked Jina into Running/Walking Central Park. I thought she was going to hate me for it, but she actually told me later that it was one of her favorite things we did.

If you check out my weekly mileage as of late, I'm way down. That has to change this week, not so much the mileage, but conditioning in general.

Enough from me, not much more to say of any interest or importance, but please, take the time to look in my side column, under the "blogs of interest" list and check out the music video at "Baldpastorguy" - The raw emotion is overwhelming.