Month: March 2012

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off the trail

adam and i are out of the woods after spending a few days hiking some of the appalacain trail around damascus, virginia. we did 32 miles pretty quickly (14 miles on day one, 13 miles on day two, and then a short day of 5 miles). we went over the peak of mount rodgers, white top mountain, pine mountain, and several other places that were high enough that both of us are now walking like 80 year olds. we met some interesting and great people, saw some amazing scenery, saw 40 to 50 wild ponies, and carried our packs a long way.

it was a blast.

i’ll post a few stories and photos later.

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the pack list

adam and i are hiking part of the appalachian trail over his school spring break. we are both really excited about the trip. i’ve been doing the planning with some help from bill, a friend of pam’s sister. bill has been a ton of help. he agreed to look over my pack list so i have been typing it out for the past few days. if you want to you can view it here.

while developing my pack list i gained a great deal of wisdom from this wonderful post concerning the author’s 27lb for 7 days pack list. it is a great pack list.

if you look over my list and see anything that i obviously missed please let me know.

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he touched my leg

first i want to say that today is adam’s birthday. i can’t believe he is 18 years old. he is such an awesome kid that i am really proud of. i am looking forward to hiking with him over spring break.

now to my story.

this week has been one of those weird weeks in wisconsin weather where i cross country skied at the beginning of the week and was riding my bike and running in shorts at the end of the week. seriously, it was in the mid-60s today while we experienced a low of 9° on monday. so while i was running in shorts today, i was running in tights and shorts to stay warm throughout the rest of the week.

that’s where the weirdness came from.

wednesday i was running through our neighborhood and i saw a guy that i often see running around the neighborhood too. we usually just nod at each other when we run past one another. since i could tell he had obviously just finished running, i thought i would stop and get to know him. after all, i like to be a good neighbor and this guy only lives a few roads from me. we started talking about running, how we both did in the point bock run (he is much faster than me), and various other things. during the conversation he asked me about the tights i was wearing. he wondered if they tended to get hot. i told him not really because they are pretty thin and made of wicking material. i pinched them and pulled them away from my leg so that he could see how thin they were. apparently my pinch and pull method didn’t convince him because he quickly reached out and placed his hand, palm first, on my leg and said “wow, those are really thin.” he then slowly removed his hand from my thigh.

i was in complete shock. i really wasn’t expecting it. i’m sure he didn’t mean anything from it but at the same time i wasn’t sure how to respond. so i decided the best thing to do was run away. so i did.

i think i will get a pair of thicker tights next year … or change my running route. 🙂

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kony 2012–meh?

by now many of you have seen the above video from invisible children. perhaps you have received facebook invites to join a group that is organizing people to be a part of the planned plastering of posters and everything else to raise awareness.

i have mixed feelings about all this. to be honest if it wasn’t for invisible children i would have most likely known absolutely nothing about the about the lord’s resistance army (lra) and the terrible things joseph kony has lead them to do to kids in uganda. i am thankful for what invisible children did initially in raising awareness and sparking some action but thanks to a friend of mine i have my questions about their latest film and campaign (kony 2012).

david is a former student from the student ministry i led at parkview baptist church in baton rouge. david’s background both culturally and educationally makes him someone i automatically respect in regards to anything african (actually i just pretty much respect david because he is an awesome person). david posted his thoughts on the kony 2012 campaign on his blog (you can find his post here). he basically says that the kony 2012 campaign is dealing with a problem that isn’t the main issue anymore in uganda. he describes it as selling 6 year old newspapers.

i’m still not sure how i feel about the kony 2012 campaign but i am sure that you should read david’s post and that his thoughts are shaping my opinion. so go read his post.

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baptism & my afternoon

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tonight was a tapestry baptism gathering. for us that means we baptize a thread who has become a follower of CHRIST and then we potluck together to celebrate what GOD is doing in us and through us. it is always a wonderful night. in the above photos you might notice some steam. that’s what happens when you use a hot tub on a screened in porch because the river that we usually use for our baptisms is still WAY to cold. the plan/hope is that the plover river will be suitable in april. we’ll see.

SIDE NOTE – we’ve had a VERY mild winter this year. there are advantages to that but also disadvantages. one of the disadvantages is that there hasn’t been as much snow to do some of the things that pam and i love to do during the winter. thankfully we received a few good inches this week (i think around 6”) so i was finally able to go into the forest behind our house and do this today. it was wonderful.

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2012 bock run

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today was the 2012 point bock run, which is one of my favorite runs. there is always a great atmosphere around it and i end up seeing lots of friends in the race. i ran the race today not really expecting much since i’ve only been running about 30-40 miles a month for the past 4 months. not enough miles to really improve from my personal best from last year of 40:36 (8:08 per mile). i was just hoping to keep a pace of 9:45 per mile (around 48:45 for the 5 mile course). i figured i couldn’t do much better than that considering how little running i have done.

i was pretty pleased when i crossed the finish line at 46:34 (9:17 per mile). my overall time and the fact that my last mile was at an 8:43 per mile pace encourages me to think that with the proper practice i might get close to my half marathon personal best (1:58:40 – 9:04 per mile) by the time of the oshkosh half marathon on april 22.

as you can see from the above time stats i am a slow runner. i realize that i am not one of the speed demons and i don’t try to pretend like i am. i try to start in a position in the pack that is appropriate for my speed level. that is why it drives me nuts how many people who walk the race decide that they should be in the front of the pack for the starting gun. i’m sure they have very valid reasons in their minds for why they should start at the front of the pack. for example, they might think…

  • they are distantly related to steve prefontaine and thereby will go from a walker to an extremely fast runner at some time during the race.
  • they have a really fast friend who they believe absolutely needs their encouragement for the 50 feet that this walker is able to keep up with his/her friend.
  • they are convinced that if they start at the front of the pack they will end up drafting on the back of the pack and be pulled along to a faster time.
  • perhaps they had beans for supper the night before and want to share the beans’ effect with all the other runners as a practical joke and therefore need to start in the front of the pack.

or perhaps they have less noble reasons like not caring. i really don’t begrudge them being slow. after all i am slow. and i’m definitely not talking about people who are doing the galloway run/walk system. i completely understand the run/walk system and i don’t blame them at all when i see them walking (mainly because they will probably pass me later). i’m talking about the people who walk the entire race. why would any such walker start the race in the 6:00 per mile pace group? i can’t imagine a good reason (though there may be one and if so please forgive me and explain it to me). all i know is that they clogged up the beginning of the bock run and slowed down my first 2 miles.

here are my mile breaks:

  • mile 1 – 9:42
  • mile 2 – 9:29
  • mile 3 – 9:20
  • mile 4 – 9:07
  • mile 5 – 8:43

notice how every mile was faster? i tend to think this is because of all the time i ended up being stuck behind walkers in the first two miles. this happened more times than i care to remember.

please don’t think that i am down on people walking races. i am not. i think it is great for people to walk races. just start at a reasonable part of the pack. i figured i would run around 9:45 per mile so i started at the 10:00 per mile pace group. when i went faster it didn’t cause anyone any trouble. people, just pick an appropriate spot in the pack people. come on!

SIDE NOTE – i think my tv is going to begin thinking that we are british because of all the bbc tv series pam has been watching recently. eat least it is fun to watch the guys fight in these british dramas. every argument seems to end with someone saying sternly “i say good day to you sir.” if it continues that say even louder “i said good day sir!” i think i will start doing this.

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belt’s opened today

i love goofy traditions. therefore i love that each year people (primarily high school and college students) camp out be the first in line when belt’s soft serve ice cream opens. they do it to get the ice cream first and a free t-shirt or glass depending upon where they are in line. when we moved to point i started bringing coffee, on behalf of tapestry, to those who camped out. like i said pam and i love goofy traditions and therefore we want to support those who are a part of them.

adam at beltssince this year is adam’s senior year of high school we let him skip school to sleep at belt’s and be one of the first in line. so he and some friends slept out in the parking lot last night with a low of 14º to be ready for the opening. he was the third one in line. he says it was a fun night. i tend to believe him and i’m glad he did it. noah is already planning for 2015 and his senior year. adam shows up at around the 1:30 mark in the above video.

yeah for random traditions!

SIDE NOTE – we really haven’t had much snow this winter which is not really a good thing. i haven’t been cross country skiing once this winter because there hasn’t been a good base. anyhow this past week has been fun with the snow we have been receiving. this is what it was like this afternoon.

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eric’s craigslist discussion

a friend of mine, eric g, is presently in discussions with a guy in wausau who wants to sell/trade his air guitar on craigslist. the whole thing has made me laugh so i thought i would, with his permission, share it here.

the original craigslist add reads:

selling a vintage, mint condition air guitar. has served faithfully as the backup to several world famous touring rigs. sweet low action, and really screams on the higher frets and insane sustain, as demonstrated recently on a journey tribute concert. don’t settle for less, get the best, and impress your girl.

make an offer, will also consider trade for barefoot water skis.

eric’s initial response was:

i saw your posting on craigslist for the air guitar.  i will trade you three baby unicorns.  trust me, it’s a good deal.  their mother was a champion snipe chaser and their father could jump a dozen rainbows without breaking a sweat.  let me know if this deal works for you and we can meet up.  if you want to check out the unicorns, my address is 1234 yellowbrick rd..  they can usually be found frolicking with the gnomes in the pasture.
sincerely,
eric

the person behind the listing responded with:

eric, thanks for your interesting offer.  i will google this ‘yellow road’ you speak of and see what type of neighborhood it is you have raised these unicorns in before deciding, however i have had poor experiences in the past with gnomes, so the fact they have frolicked concerns me.  will be in touch yesterday.  thx again.

(personal note here – who can blame this guy for worrying about the bad influence of gnomes. they are notorious for leading unicorns down the wrong path.)

and eric responded back with:

i could also offer a guided hodag hunt instead of the unicorn colts if that would be more desirable.

(personal note here – for those of you who aren’t familiar with hodags … well you obviously haven’t lived in wisconsin)

though i would never tell this to the guy trying to sell/trade the air guitar i really hope eric gets this air guitar and gets rid of his juvenile unicorns. i’m a little tired of the damage his unicorns are doing around town. the gnomes have really messed the unicorns up.