A Detour on the "Running" Journey

A not so "funny" thing happened on this Running Journey. The running has stopped. Hopefully it is only a temporary stop but it is a stop none the less and had I used better judgement and common sense it should have stopped sooner than it did. In a previous post I wrote about banging my knee into a trailer hitch and feeling it catch on my next long run enough to where I had to stop and walk until it felt right again. I had some minor issues when we ran the MO Cowbell half marathon but attributed it to the fact that so much of the race was on cement. And then I ran five additional races with soreness in the knee while racing and even while training. I wasn't limping when I walked though and with only a few exceptions didn't limp when I ran. After the Hot Cocoa 5k in Patterson I decided that I should get a doctor's opinion. And then, like a chump, I chose to ignore the advice of R.I.C.E because of the first letter R = rest and I still had additional races that I wanted to run. He scheduled an MRI for me and I ran two additional races before it was scheduled, including a tough trail race with some steep downhill.

Enough of that. I got the MRI and am now waiting for the results but based on what the technician said and the fact that my knee hurts pretty much all the time now I decided not to run my last Double Race this past Sunday and to not train at all until I find out what the MRI and doctor have to say. Of course I'm hoping for a "quick fix" because I've got a lot of races still to run.

The first weekend in December I had a race right in Patterson, it is a very low key local event and I wanted to support it if I could. And, since I already had two races scheduled for the following weekend in Orange County I figured I should do this one that I knew was on a flat, easy course. 

That afternoon I went with my brother in law Gregg to the PAC 12 Championship football game at the San Francisco Forty Niners stadium. We had outstanding seats 30 rows up and we were right above the PAC 12 Network broadcasters so all of the celebrities who were interviewed were very close. They were celebrating the top 50 All Century team and a lot of the players were there including a favorite player of mine John Elway and Teddy Bruschi from the New England Patriots. It was a really good game and I enjoyed watching former Colorado prep athlete Christian McCaffery play for the Stanford Cardinal who defeated USC, Gregg's favorite team and the reason we were at the game. It was a fun event with so much history attached to it.

The next weekend I returned to Laguna Hills to housesit for my nephew Tim so they could attend a baseball tournament. I had already signed up to run a club race in Modesto that I have run the past few years but decided I would find a race in Orange County. I not only found one, I found two. I raced on Saturday at a low key 5k on Huntington Beach. 

And then on Sunday I ran a trail race at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach. It was a tough race but a fair one. The worst part for my knee and me was the downhill portion it was crazy steep and there were parts that had sand on asphalt which made it necessary for me to run putting my brakes on more than letting go and taking advantage of the downhill like I usually do.

And no Tim, those are not my late Mother's knees! 

So what now? Obviously I've got to take a break from running until further notice. Hopefully it won't be to long of a break. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the holidays, wrap up another year and celebrate the birth of my new grandson, Donovan Richard Paulo.

"Father Time is Undefeated"

Have you ever felt as though radio announcers were speaking to you? Lately that has been the case with me. A couple of weeks ago I was driving to a race early on a Saturday morning when a sports talk show host was talking about Payton Manning, the quarterback for the Denver Broncos. Manning's game performance has seemingly declined rapidly. His comment really made an impact on me just because of the way I was feeling driving to the race and actually have been feeling for a while. He said, "Old age gets a hold of you and won't let go". While it was a simple comment it struck me as profound simply because I have been feeling that old age has in fact got a hold of me and darn sure isn't letting go.

I mentioned in a prior post that I had banged my knee on a trailer hitch the end of September and that it was still sore and even affecting my gait from time to time but I am able to run through it. Well it's another month later and the knee doesn't seem to be getting worse but it also doesn't seem to be getting better. It's ironic in a sense that it would be a knee bothering me because for years doctors have been surprised that I ran as much as I do and have for so many years with no negative knee issues. So the combination of the sore knee, the coldest November here since 2000 and probably some Seasonal Affect Disorder issues has me wondering how much longer I want to be running and racing. The answer remains at least for now that I want to keep doing it as long as I am able. 

Yesterday I was out early doing errands that I wanted to get done while a) it warmed up some and b) I talked myself into getting out to run and I heard Jim Rome on his show talking about Kobe Bryant's retirement after this season. His comment, "Father Time is undefeated". 

With all that being said, I've got six races scheduled for December so hopefully they will be the motivation to get through another month. For the record I had a decent month of racing in November despite "feeling" old. I even won a chicken for finishing 2nd in the 60+ age group at the Turkey Trot in Turlock. It was good!

With all that being said I am very grateful to still be running and the friends and family that I share running experiences with. In particular my daughter Stacie and son in law Tom and a group of four friends in Colorado, Robert Spell, Gerald Romero, Joe Brazil and Walter Miller. I always try to run at least one race with Tom and one with Stacie when I visit wherever they are living and have had a lot of fun experiences as a result. Additionally Joe comes out once a year or so and we turn his trip into a running adventure with a lot of side activities mixed in. Finally I try to get to Colorado at least once a year for what the five of us call a Reunion Run and those have been fun. Maybe that's part of the reason I've been more frustrated than I should be with the knee I don't want it to get so bad that I have to stop running. Oh well, time will tell and if it does happen then it will just have to be on to a new adventure. In the meantime, I'll just keep running and racing.

Veterans' Day 2015 Pt 2 - My Final Trip to Vietnam - USS Constellation

A highlight of the 2015 Veterans Day was my grandson Chase choosing me to honor on his school's Veterans Day Wall of Honor. 

My last Vietnam cruise was full of turmoil before we ever left the dock in San Diego. We were met by protesters from the time we arrived in San Diego from our home Air Station in Lemoore, California and it continued until we finally were out to sea. Even while clearing the bay we were surrounded by boatloads of protesters. It's bad enough that we were all leaving our families and going somewhere we didn't want to go but we have to do it while being targeted for doing our duty. They even provided a place for sanctuary for sailors who refused to leave when the ship sailed. 
            

I was already frustrated to be going again because the military was allowing service men to get out early because the war was "winding down" and they were reducing the armed forces levels. Of course in typical military fashion, I wanted to get out early since I would only be gone for less than half of the cruise and would then be shipped back to Lemoore for my discharge. Prior to departure I had requested to be released early so that I could start school. I was denied because my "rate was critical to the mission of the ship". Needless to say, it caused a lot of frustration because as I mentioned, so many people were being released early.  

Here word for word is the response to my early release request. Keeping in mind that they were giving up to six month early outs to people at the time:
This was given to me on December 6, 1971 by my Commanding Officer. It was written on November 30, 1971 at the office of the Chief of Naval Personnel in Washington, D.C. 

"Subj: Early release to attend college.

1. By reference (a) you requested to be separated from the naval service on 28 December 1971, 30 days prior to your college registration date. Because the Chief of Naval Operations has delegated authority to the Chief of Naval Personnel to administer early out programs, the final action on your request is the responsibility of the Chief of Naval Personnel and action has been taken as outlined herein.

2. Your request is sincerely appreciated and has been carefully reviewed. It should be noted, however, that the provisions of reference (b) set the maximum early release date for the purpose of attending college as 30 days prior to a class convening date. In your particular case, the earliest possible separation date would be 7 January 1972. Additionally, reference (b) provides Commanding Officers with the final decision on any request submitted by a man who is eligible for a college early release. As the authority closest to a command's manning and operational needs, he is in the best position to determine whether the early release of an individual will adversely affect combat readiness. These provisions are based on Department of Defense policy which applies to all branches of the Armed Forces. To maintain the integrity of the college early release program and, at the same time, provide fair treatment for all personnel who apply for early release to attend college, waivers of any of the provisions of reference (b) are not granted. Accordingly, the action of your Commanding Officer is reaffirmed and your request for separation on 28 December 1971 must necessarily be disapproved. As indicated by the first endorsement, it appears that release in January vice your EAOS of February will still permit registration.

3. It is sincerely regretted that favorable action could not be taken on your request. It is hoped, however, that your realization of the fact that early release to attend college is a privilege to be granted in individual cases and not an automatically approved request will help you understand the necessity of this decision. Furthermore, it is sincerely regretted that this action may inconvenience you and it is hoped that your desire to further your education will not be affected."

Here is a copy of my original request that went up the chain of command.

My reasoning for wanting to get out when I requested was in order to find a place to live in Southern California, find a job and get my family moved before I started school for the spring semester. Combat Readiness - Sounds noble doesn't it. Here are the actual facts of my release. On January 6 I was given orders to the Philippines for transfer back to Lemoore Naval Air Station my home base where I would be released. My release date was going to be January 17th as opposed to my original discharge date of February 5th. The reason given for the termination of my enlistment, "Reduction in authorized strength". 

When I arrived back at NAS Lemoore the assigned me to a duty of cleaning and painting barracks. I refused to do it. Told them I would check in every morning and if they needed me for anything else they could call me at home. I was going to spend the time getting my family ready for relocation not doing some BS busy work. There were no repercussions so I guess I was fortunate.

I didn't start school that Spring but I did go back and finished both my AA at Mt. SAC and my BA at Cal State Fullerton by working full time and going to night school. In the meantime as I said earlier the military was giving cuts up to 6 months early for reduction in strength. 

Veteran's Day 2015

Al Maples - Vietnam War Veteran

Recently each year on Veterans Day I try to write something about friends or family who have served. As I wrote in a previous post I had the opportunity to catch up with and visit with an old friend, Al Maples. Many years ago I had read a description of how Al received a Silver Star while serving in Vietnam. I have never forgotten that and have always been impressed by how heroic he was. Al and I were best friends all through high school and ran one season of college cross country together before he went into the army. Nothing that happened in our years growing up together would have even hinted that Al would one day be a hero and to me that makes it even more impressive. Al did what he needed to do and for that reason I wanted to honor him in my blog this year. When I visited Al and his wife Patty I was able to get a copy of his Silver Star Award citation and here is what it said, word for word:

"Specialist Four Maples distinguished himself by gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force on 26 January 1969 while serving as a squad leader with Company E, 2d Battalion, 3d Infantry, 199th Infantry Brigade (Separate) (Light), in the Republic of Vietnam. On this date when the reconnaissance platoon of Company E came under heavy enemy automatic weapons fire, Specialist Maples spotted two of the enemy and directed effective machine gun fire toward them. He then advanced toward the entrenched enemy and successfully silenced the position with hand grenades. Shortly thereafter, an incoming mortar round landed in the middle of the platoon command post and seriously wounded several members, including the platoon leader and the platoon sergeant. Specialist Maples immediately assumed command and began coordinating medical evacuation, first aid and security efforts. His calm and competent actions under trying circumstances inspired the remaining members of the platoon and saved many lives. Specialist Four Maples' outstanding courage and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army."

I'm proud to call Al a former teammate and lifelong friend and honored to share his story of heroism. We never know where our heroes will come from or what will bring out that heroism and that's why when someone does demonstrate the willingness to risk it all for others they should be honored. 

Motivation - Where does it come from? Where does it go?

Motivation? What's Motivation?

It's kind of ironic that I have been planning to do this post on motivation for several days now. I just wanted to get through yesterday's race so that I could download the pictures from my phone that I was planning to use in this post. The reason for the irony? I'm sitting here struggling to find the motivation to work on this post and I haven't even downloaded the pictures yet. 

So before I talk about where I find motivation for running in particular let me talk briefly about why I'm struggling with lack of motivation today. My knee hurts! It's as simple as that. When I was in Missouri for the MO Cowbell Half I banged my left knee against a trailer hitch and gave it a good knock. At the time I didn't think anything about it except it hurt right then. A few days later near the end of a six mile run my knee went out on me but at the time I didn't put the two things together. After walking for a few minutes I was able to run again and then ran the half marathon with no pain or discomfort.

Since then though the tweaked feeling has come back from time to time. It causes me to change my running form a bit and then usually goes away. In yesterday's race it acted up again but I was able to run through it with a little limp and eventually ran normally again. My race actually turned out as well as I hoped it would so even with the half mile or so of bad form I still met my goal. 

So what does that have to do with lack of motivation? It bothered me during the night when I woke up and it feels a little sore this morning so I'm caught in that place where I don't know whether to train through it or rest it. I decided that at least for today I would rest it and as a result I feel unmotivated to do anything. The good news is that I recognize it and I have been making myself get some things done.

Yesterday's race was the Move Your Bones 5k. This was the third year in a row that I have run it. It is a well run event with only one negative. They don't bring in any restrooms so we are literally stuck with one two stall park restroom and that's ridiculous. One other thing I wish they would do but I'm probably in the minority is present the awards as soon as the results are available instead of doing the entire raffle first. It was worse this year than years past because they brought in a truck load of pumpkins and raffled them off before results were given. I did win a manicure though that I gave to my sister, so it wasn't all bad.

Like I said before the topic of this post was simply going to be how and where I get motivation and I really did give it a lot of thought the past couple of weeks. Sometimes when you spend a lot of time prepping for an event, in our case the MO Cowbell Half Marathon, once it's over there can be a let down and that is when motivation may suffer. I actually had four different things that I used to get mine back and not all of them intentional.

Motivators

Nature whether it is beautiful sunrises, weather change, wildlife, seasonal changes, or all of the above can be a serious positive motivator.

Books have always been a strong source of motivation for me and I never know what book it might be that may have a motivating effect on me. The book pictured here certainly did that. I found the book at Half Priced Books when I was in Missouri. I wasn't looking for anything in particular but saw it and picked it up. It is a well written description of how the author became a serious runner. 

The FitBit on my wrist was a gift for house and pet sitting for some friends for a week. The reason it became part of my renewed motivation is that it gives a concrete record of what I am doing and how I am doing it. It's not necessarily any different than a program on my phone but it is a fun way to track distance, time, water intake, sleep and so on.

Finally probably my greatest motivator is the calendar book that I use to schedule races for the coming year. I still have at least 5 races scheduled for the remainder of this year and I'm already planning one for New Year's Day but the planner makes it possible to look even further out and having goals is absolutely necessary for motivation.

St. Louis Trip - Part 8 Traveling Home Days 3 & 4

When I left Albuquerque I was going to Williams, Arizona where I was going to stay for the night after visiting the Grand Canyon. I had planned to visit the Canyon on the way to Missouri but when I got in touch with Kristy she told me they were in town and would be around that night I decided that I would rather drive on to Albuquerque and visit. 

I had been to the Grand Canyon twice before. The first time was in 1989 I think when Jackie, Stacie and I drove out to visit my Uncle in San Diego. The second time was in 2000 when I saw the Canyon from the river for 18 days when we rafted 216 miles of the Colorado. My first thoughts upon arriving were, "my god it's worse than Disneyland" and "I can't believe that I drove here for this". The traffic to get in was unreal. There was a sign that said, "Commercial traffic must use the right lane". It didn't say that others couldn't use the right land so I drove past literally hundreds of cars and wow was I abused. Then people realized that it actually was an open lane and I led a parade. It was ridiculous. The sign didn't say, "Only commercial vehicles in the right lane". I literally saved myself at least an hour in line because I understood the English language. (That's not a criticism of the tourists who didn't but of the loud mouths and low lifes who yelled at me as I drove past). 

Anyway back to the Canyon, after driving around through four parking lots and finally finding a space I joined the line for the restroom. Then I followed the signs and the crowd to the Rim Trail and all the negative feelings I had disappeared as soon as I saw the beauty of the canyon again. I'm not even going to waste time trying to describe it I'm just going to show some pictures.

The beauty made the trip all worthwhile and the negative seem pretty insignificant. Would I go back to the Grand Canyon? Absolutely! But as I tell my grandkids, "You've got to have PATIENCE!"

The final highlight of the trip to the Canyon was seeing this guy as I was pulling out of the parking lot to head back to Williams for my final night on the road.

Friday morning I left for the drive home and on the way I drove through a couple of different parts of old Route 66. This final picture is of the approach from the east to Ludlow as well as scenery around Ludlow. We lived there briefly when we were in grade school while my Dad was working on a pipeline through the desert. 

People have asked me if I would drive rather than fly again after having done it and my answer is absolutely. We live in a beautiful country and I'm blessed to have that opportunity to see so much of it.

St. Louis Trip - Part 7 Traveling Home Days 1 & 2

I decided to go home by a different route at least part of the way so that I could stay a night in Colorado Springs and try to see some friends. The long one day drive from St. louis to the Springs reminded me why I stopped doing it. By the time I got to the Springs I had traveled through a downpour and a hail storm. It was more like a summer storm than Fall. 

Between the drive and the weather I was happy to get a chance to get together with Joe and have pizza. I told a couple of the other guys that we would have to catch up next time because I was going to crash early and hit the road early the next morning because even though I didn't have a very long drive, I was just going to Albuquerque but I wanted to visit Great Sand Dunes National Park on the way.

The first thing I saw the next morning was a squirrel waiting at the door of the motel office. As I was walking up, the door opened, the squirrel was handed his breakfast and he left. When I went in the office they told me that he showed up every morning there for breakfast.

After leaving the Springs I drove south to Walsenburg and then turned west to go over LaVeta Pass to the San Luis Valley and on to Great Sand Dunes National Park. I'm really glad that I decided to take the side trip because it was a really unique locale. As is often the case, pictures don't do it justice.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

After spending some time at the park I continued on my trip to Albuquerque. I was going to spend the night with Ken and Kristy again and I didn't plan to get there until after 5:30 so I still had time for some side trips. I stopped for lunch in Antonito, Colorado and then entered New Mexico. I made a quick stop in Santa Fe, a place I had not been to for many years. It really is a unique southwestern city and worth visiting at least once.

I decided rather than take I 25 to I 40 and then backtrack I would drive the Turquoise Trail a route I had never driven in all my travel from Colorado to New Mexico and back. It was an interesting drive with some really unique old communities to see. I stopped in Cerrillos to see the old town and then Madrid, a community that felt like a throwback to the 1960's. While driving through Madrid I saw a store with a bunch of bookshelves full of books on the porch and of course I pulled in immediately. Surprisingly they didn't sell the books and magazines, you could take what you wanted and leave a donation if you wanted to, which I did. 

Madrid

Golden

My final side trip on the drive was up the road to the top of Sandia Crest. It was a typical climb up and back on a ski road with some beautiful trees and views, including a couple of deer next to the road. The best part about the drive is that I now know where many of the trailheads are if I should return to the area and want to hike. 

When I arrived at Ken and Kristy's I another great visit catching up, some delicious green chili stew made with sweet potatoes instead of potatoes and some wine from a friends vineyard. It really is funny how we have some friends that we can not see for not just years but decades and keep in touch with only a Christmas card every year and yet when you get back together it's as if you've been in regular communication. One of the real blessings of this trip was reconnecting with the Meunier's.