2008 Ironman 70.3 Hawaii

Well, I survived it! You can see the results here:

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/honu70.3/?show=tracker&rid=147&year=2008

Just type my race bib number, 1074, or my last name in the "Athlete Search" box and it will pull up my results. If you want to see a "clunky" version of the official results to show context to my results (you can't really see the full range of data), you can go here:

http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/honu70.3/show=raceresults&year=2008&format=htm

Sometime soon, a more user-friendly version of the official results should be available here:

http://www.ironman703hawaii.com/results/index.php

If you use either the first or last web page to search, you can select the 2006 results for me in the same race and then compare between the two performances. What you will quickly draw from such a comparison is this: I am getting slower! Here's the analysis that goes along with that, though - my base and training in 2006 was far better than what I was able to put together this year. This year, I really did almost exclusively prepare for races by racing, probably not the best way to do things, but better than nothing. I was able to run and complete the Half Ironman race yesterday, after all!

Unfortunately, I am writing this nearly 24 hours after the event finished and some of the "lessons learned" have already evaporated. However, I will try to put some hard-earned wisdom together here for your reading pleasure.

1. Always wear sunscreen when you plan to spend around 7 hours out in the Hawaii summer sun.
2. It is more fun to do a race when you have "support humans" around to share in the experience (Barb and John and Jay were here this year, unlike 2006 when I was solo).
3. It is OK to not run continuously during the half marathon, particularly when you know that you training and preparation have not been what they should have been. Walk when you need to, take a look around, enjoy the beautiful scenery and the race experience!
4. Tri Bike Transfer, a service that ships your bike to and from your local bike shop to the race venue and back without taking it apart, is a great thing! I used it this year and will use it anytime I have the opportunity to do so at future races.
5. Nutrition / hydration on the bike have to be on the clock, i.e. take electrolyte tabs at 30 minutes, eat a gel on the hour, water and sports drink as needed throughout. This worked so well for me yesterday that I actually had to stop in the Port-a-John at T2 (bike to run) to relieve myself, the first time I have actually felt the need to do that during a longer race like this one.
6. The Fairmont Orchid, adjacent to the Mauni Lani resort (host of the race) is a beautiful hotel. We'll be back.
7. It takes many hours to get from Volcano National Park around the bottom of the Big Island up to the Kohala Coast. I almost didn't make it to the race site in time the day prior to get registered, turn in gear, etc. Next time, I will do all the pre-race logistics first thing, then spend some relaxed time sightseeing after that is all taken care of.
8. Liberal use of Body Glide (an anti-chafing agent) kept me chafe-free for the duration of the event (lesson learned from a couple of weeks back at the Honolulu Triathlon).
9. Aid stations are so plentiful and well-stocked on the run course that no gels or any other sort of nutritional products need to be carried on your person. I had a gel, some Clif Blocks, and electrolyte tabs with me that I did not touch. Next time I do this race, I will go without.
10. Through the use of nutrition / hydration on the clock (as in number 5 above) and a pacing strategy that downplayed any notion of trying to beat any arbitrary clock time, it became apparent to me that it would be possible (with more preparatory training than I was able to arrange for this time around) to double these distances and complete an Ironman-distance race. Clearly, it is not an impossible feat; thousands of folks achieve an Ironman finish each year. My cousin Mike has finished a number of Ironman races. I hope that in the next 3 years, while assigned to language school and graduate school, I will be able to assign a higher priority to training, remain injury-free, and put the things in place I need to to successfully complete an Ironman race someplace out around Taiwan. They have events that I know of in Japan, China (new this year, I think), Australia, New Zealand, Singapore (I think), and maybe others. I envision doing one / some of these races as "destination events" where the family and I will travel to one of these locations, I will do the race, and then we will do some sightseeing / touring, etc.

That's about all that comes to mind right now. I am tired and sore now but happy! This Half Ironman finish, my third, was probably the most fulfilling from the standpoint of coming across the finish line and not feeling completely "destroyed" (due in large part to the more realistic pacing strategy adopted this time, but nutrition and hydration also played their parts).

I should have a few photos to post once we are back home on Oahu (cable to link the camera to the computer is there).

GJS

'Twas The Night Before The Race...

Just a quick update from the Big Island's Kohala Coast, home of the Ironman Hawaii 70.3 race that will go tomorrow, 31 May. I hope some of you out there are going to follow along in real-time. See the sites to check a couple of posts down. I have one more site that I came across today. The gentleman who runs this site is the fellow who is in charge of the aid stations on the race course tomorrow. He mentioned that he would be taking photos and blogging real-time from the race course tomorrow, so you may want to check out his page in addition to the two I already mentioned below. The new site (fellow Blogger user!):

http://ironmanrace.blogspot.com/

I've got three eager "support humans" (Copyright Dave Sampson, ca. 2002) - Barb, John, and Jay Mackeprang - here with me on the trip and ready to see me out on the course tomorrow! Hopefully they will be able to snap a few pictures that I can put on here posthaste once the race is done tomorrow...

We will be here on the Big Island through Monday morning, then back to Oahu for a bit under 48 hours before the trip out east for the Olmsted Orientation Weekend. Before you know it, June 14th will be here and we will be heading to Nebraska / California!

GJS

MAG 24 Sprint Tri Results Posted

Here are the results from the 10 May sprint tri that I did (I wrote about it in a previous post):

http://www.pacificsportevents.com/Races/MAG%2024/2008/Oveall_Results_5-10-2008.htm

GJS

Good News!

Professional accomplishment: I have been selected for promotion to the rank of Captain! See the link:

http://www.npc.navy.mil/NR/rdonlyres/3EF929A9-CC28-4071-BE7D-34DAB2BEE3C5/0/ALN08040.txt

Again, I highly recommend using the 'ol Control-F, "Sampson" approach, as that there are something like 2000 names on the list.

You will see, and some may note the odd coincidence, that there is the number "1620" in front of my name. That means I am the one thousand six hundred and twentieth officer on this list to be promoted. I know, you're saying, "Man, it's going to take forever for him to actually put on his rank!" Maybe, maybe not. What will probably happen is that the first 200 or more officers on the list (numerically, not alphabetically) will be promoted first of next month, the next couple hundred the next month, etc. until the list is cleared of promotees about 6 - 8 months from now. Based on something like that, my estimate right now is that I should be wearing my new rank around Christmastime. The pay raise will make for a nice holiday gift!

GJS

Honolulu Triathlon Results

Race was Sunday, 18 May. Results are here: http://www.honolulutriathlon.com/results/2008Olympic.txt. I recommend using "Control-F" to find and then typing in "Sampson", otherwise you will be searching for a while.

Here are my after-action points for the race, written on my BlackBerry wireless device at a Starbucks location nearby the race venue in Waikiki soon after the race (not going to try to polish them up very much, but as you will see, they certainly could use some!):


***
race is over. I am sore. In chrono order:
Lost wristband was not an issue
Nice to not have to lug bike down early AM
Good to see Jason Lee there; he beat me

Swim: almost like swimming in salt water pool, it was so calm; lots of space and separation from other swimmers (wave start); chafing @ underarm during 2nd half (use bodyglide)

T1: seemed very slow; long run from ocean to transition; I dislike running barefoot on pavement (my foot bottoms are quite sensitive); somebody dumped h2O next to transition towel (was soaked)

Bike: best results when on small front chainring; seemed to go pretty fast; need to reassess fueling strat - took 3 Endurolyte pills about 15 min in and had only full-strength Gatorade to drink, ended up with sideache during most of the ride

T2: faster; wasn't sure where I needed to go to start run

Run: went out too fast because I was feeling good early on (good pacing strategy on bike contributed) and paid later on - cramping in quads slowed me significantly during 2nd lap, didn't have to stop running, but did require significant pace modulation to keep moving. Need to do better fueling on the bike and monitoring pace / HR early on to try to mitigate at Honu. Was no way I could kick @ finish b/c of fried quads.

Overall: well run and professional race, could use additional drink stations at finish (only ones I saw were h2O and Gatorade buckets in the finish chute; had to make repeated trips in to get more fluids)

***
I think getting thoughts about physical performance like a race out and recorded in some way soon after the event is important, otherwise, oftentimes it never happens and the potential lessons are lost! I see some gems in here for my preparation for the Half Ironman less than 2 weeks from now; will take them for action.

GJS

Sampson Update, 19 May 2008

Aloha,

 

Details are starting to filter in on dates for our upcoming move and we thought you might be interested.  But before we move from Hawaii, there are a couple trips that we have planned.  Let's go in sequential order, shall we?

 

First, trip to Big Island with Jay to sightsee and for Gary to run the 2008 Ironman Hawaii 70.3 race.  Race is on Saturday, 31 May.  You may be able to follow along online - check http://www.ironman703hawaii.com/ or http://ironman.com/events/ironman70.3/honu70.3.  Race starts at 0700 HST and I aim to finish in less than 7 hours.  Overall dates for the trip are 29 May - 2 June.

 

Next is the Olmsted Scholar Orientation Weekend in Washington, D.C.  We will travel from Hawaii on 4 June for this and return on 8 June.  John will stay behind with friends for this one.

 

That will take us up to our final week in the islands.  We are slated to depart on 14 June and arrive in Nebraska at about noon on the 15th (Sunday).

 

Will be able to spend about 2 weeks back home.  We sure hope to be able to see as many of you as possible during our time back in Nebraska!  We depart for Monterey, CA, on 29 June flight.  That will allow a few working days on the ground there to hopefully get squared away before what will certainly be a long weekend to celebrate Independence Day.  The 50-week long Mandarin Chinese course will commence the week of 7 July 2008 and is scheduled to end on 30 July 2009 (it ends up being over a year in total length due to holidays, etc.).

 

So that's it in a nutshell - please e-mail if you need or want more specific details; we'd be happy to send if you do!

 

Shameless plug for the Olmsted Foundation and the Olmsted Scholar Program: if you haven't perused their website, check it out here: http://www.olmstedfoundation.org/olmsted/web/index.cfm

 

I was selected as a part of the Olmsted Scholar Class of 2009 (when I will start my in-country studies), the 50th class since the beginning of the program.  This year, there were 27 scholars selected between the four services, the largest class ever.  Of note, I am only the 7th scholar to be assigned to Taiwan, and the first Marine Olmsted Scholar to be sent there.  To get an idea of how limited and exclusive this program is, noting as I mentioned above that the program has been in existence for 50 years now, fewer than 50 Marines have had the chance to be a part of it!  I am very humbled and proud to be a part of this select group!

 

Best regards from Hawaii,

 

Gary, Barb, and big boy 2-year old John!

Sprint Triathlon In The Books

Another race completed. Times are uniformly slower than 2 years ago, but this year, I am just happy to be able to do these events!

Today's race was the MAG-24 Sprint Triathlon. The best part about this race is it is right here on the base I live on - it doesn't get much easier than that, in terms of getting to the race! I just rode my bike the approximately 2 miles across the base and did the race. It was a 500m swim in Kaneohe Bay, an approximately 10-mile bike leg (2 laps), and then a ~3.5 mile run.

As I alluded to above, I did this race 2 years ago (it was later in the month of May that year, about 2 weeks after John was born). Barb's sister Kristine was visiting then to help us out with newborn John and everyone came out to see me run the race. Today Barb and John came out. I think John is pretty excited about running some races of his own when he gets a little older. When I got to the run leg of the race today, he really, REALLY wanted to run along with me! Soon he will be able to...

Just FYI, I finished in about 1 hour 6 minutes 2 years ago, and in about 1 hour 15 minutes today. Like I said, I am slower, can't be helped just now.

I have another race next weekend, the Honolulu Triathlon. It's a longer race - 1500m in the water, 40k on the bike, then a 10k run to finish. Based on the fatigue I felt after today's race (significant), I am going to be really feeling that one! (to say nothing of the big animal coming up at the end of the month, the Half Ironman)

GJS

Monterey it is

Well, the verdict is finally in - we are heading to California! I will have to report in to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) not later than 7 July 2008. Standby for updates on when we will be leaving Hawaii. Most likely will remain in the mid-June timeframe (can't really see how it could be much later, or really very much sooner), so we'll be back in Nebraska for a couple weeks during the summer in between. Hope to see you there!

GJS

John's birthday

Since I mentioned my birthday in passing, I should certainly mention another birthday this week. John will be 2 years old this Thursday, 8 May. Hard to believe he will already be that old! I missed his birthday party because of this trip. Barb set up a pool party for him and his friends at the base swimming pool. I really wish I could have been there to help out and to celebrate. Not to mention to see John in the water - he loves to swim! Remind me to post some new pictures (and some old ones that have not yet been released to the public) of John in celebration of his birthday.

GJS

Upcoming races

The boss's trip to Thailand this month was cancelled, so that means I can run more races in Hawaii! I signed up for a sprint triathlon being held on the base where I live this Saturday, 10 May (also, it is my birthday - send books!) and an Olympic distance triathlon the following weekend in Honolulu. Then, as planned, I will cap off the month and this tour of duty in Hawaii with the Half Ironman race on the Big Island on 31 May. As the saying goes, I am going to "race my way into shape!"



GJS

Saipan

Saipan is our first destination on the trip. I have been here once before, in 1999, when I was a reconnaissance team leader on the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) out of Okinawa, Japan. We were here for a couple of days, if I remember correctly, on a reconnaissance and surveillance training operation. We flew to the island aboard military aircraft and went directly to our operations site under cover of darkness. The remainder of our time here was spent conducting the training mission, so there wasn't much time to see anything here except for the immediate environs of the training mission and the interior of blacked out vehicles that we got around in.



This time we are staying at a resort hotel along the main thoroughfare through the main town, Garapan. Driving into town last night, it struck me how similar Garapan's business and tourism district looked like the same area in Tumon Bay, Guam's main tourism strip. Literally, it is almost an exact replica. I'm pretty sure the set-up in Guam was there first, as that Guam is the more commercially developed of the two islands and has, I'm sure, a much larger population.



It's interesting to read about the history of places like Saipan with regard to World War II. Not to mention Guam and Tinian. Nearby Tinian was actually where the B-29s that carried nuclear payloads on Japan in 1945 originated from. I haven't had the chance to make it over there to see Tinian for myself, but maybe someday I will have a chance.



GJS

More about reading

Still on the plane...read for as long as I could, until my eyes started to cross, then took a quick power nap, and now we are about 30 minutes out from our first stop. I want to write a bit more about reading, if that is OK with you...

Hearing no objections, let's begin, shall we? I have been reading on this flight a great periodical called The American Interest. It came into existence not too long ago, I believe on the heels of a irreconcilable "difference of opinion" amongst the staff of another publication, called The National Interest (you may have heard of it; it is fairly well-known amongst policy circles). After this difference of opinion, Francis Fukuyama, known for his 1990's treatise The End of History and the Last Man dealing with post-Cold War strategy, broke away and started up this new periodical. I never read TNI, but this new periodical caught my eye at a Borders store about a year ago while I was in Norther Virginia on business. The cover graphic showed a downcast and defeated-looking presumably American soldier stumbling across sand dunes (OK, I get it, Iraq War reference) and indicated there were feature articles by Robert D. Kaplan (of The Atlantic Monthly fame and who has recently authored books on the US military and US strategy and power titled Imperial Grunts and another more recent book that is its sequel, whose title escapes me just now), Joseph Joffe (not really familiar with his work), and the one that really caught my eye, "dueling" pieces by General David Petraeus and Ralph Peters (retired Army soldier and noted opinionist on military and national defense issues, columnist for a major New York daily newspaper, and prolific author whose recent works include Beyond Baghdad and Wars of Blood and Faith) on a topic I am quite interested in, the utility of graduate education for military personnel.

As you may know, I have a vested interest in graduate education. Essentially since I arrived in Hawaii about two and a half years ago, I have been either planning for or taking graduate school classes (I have had very limited success in making much progress, in a dilemma quite familiar to probably just about all working adults who try to attend graduate school on nights and weekends - time is scarce. I had the added challenge of making a pair of deployments during this time, further explaining the small amount I was able to complete. I did one graduate school class at Hawaii Pacific University in their Master of Arts in Diplomacy and Military Studies. It was a history course covering the Korean War, notable for the prestige of the professor, Dr. Allan Millett, a highly regarded military historian who spent most of his academic career teaching at The Ohio State University. He also retired as a Colonel in the Marine Reserve, so he certainly "knows the smell of gunpowder", so to speak. I really enjoyed the class (Dr. Millett is an outstanding lecturer, one of the best I have had) and learned a great deal, to boot (my knowledge level on the Korean War was pretty basic before that class in the summer of 2006). At any rate, my struggle to fit graduate school into my life has been taken care of with my selection for the Olmsted Scholar Program - in about a year, it will be my job to go to graduate school!

Back to the articles on graduate education. General Petraeus, himself an example of an officer who has been afforded the chance to attend civilian graduate school while on active duty - he has a PhD from Princeton - understandable advocates for the benefits that accrue the officer selected for such a course of full-time civilian study. Peters sees this as a waste, time that would be better spent doing purely military training, or even better, deploying to the fight! After all, allowing officers to go to school takes them "out of the line". Well, this is true, if you are attending grad school full-time, you can't very well deploy into combat, but I agree with Petraeus, I think the product the services get back on the tail end of the graduate school process is a better officer for their education received AND the experiences and interaction with fellow students, faculty, and their school communities.

That's my position on the topic now. I'll let you know in 3 years (when I am finishing graduate school) if I change my mind.

GJS

Random thoughts at 35,000 feet

We're nearly halfway through our flight and I felt compelled to give my thumbs a workout on the keyboard of this BlackBerry device. Don't worry, of course I disabled the wireless mode! I am not endangering anyone's safety via "interference with the aircraft's navigation and communication systems!"

I picked up a copy of today's Wall Street Journal at the airport. The WSJ is my favorite newspaper, just for the record. I do not receive it via home delivery, however - I don't have time to read it and it ends up just stacking up off to the side of my home office / study. This makes me sad, seeing all that great reading material coming in and me not being able to read it. Someday I will subscribe to it again. That will be a happy day. No, currently I receive but one newspaper at home, the New York Times Sunday edition. Have you ever seen it? It is nearly the size of a decent-sized city's phone book! And out each and every Sunday...how do I find time to read it? It's not easy, but if I can scrape out about an hour for it sometime Sunday, then work on it a bit each day throughout the week (usually at breakfast - nourishment for body AND mind!), I do OK at keeping up with it.Anyhow, enough about newspapers in general (if you can't tell, I like newspapers), my intent is to write a little bit about one article I read in today's WSJ.

Oh, and before I go any further, please let me apologize in advance for the inevitable typos that are in this dispatch - writing on this mobile device does not allow me, to the best of my knowledge, to spell-check, and when I send this message, it will post immediately to Garblog. Sure, I can go back in later to do edits one I am at a "regular" computer, but if you read this before I do so, please bear this in mind.

The article of note that I read was about terminally-ill former professor of computer science Randy Pausch. Perhaps you've heard of him. He is quite famous now because of the acclaim surrounding his new bestselling book entitled The Last Lecture. I had heard of the book (I try to keep tabs on what books are selling well just out of curiosity and because in addition to liking newspapers, I also like books! As a sidenote, and to "pile on" to my earlier material about The New York Times Sunday paper, one way I do so is by reading The Book Review in said paper, which is most probably my favorite single part of the periodical.) via several sources, including a piece on Fox News yesterday I happened to see while waiting for my boss while he was at an appointment, and from Barb, who I think had seen something about the man (Pausch) and his book on a separate television broadcast. Barb went on to say that she wanted to read the book. Before personally viewing the feature on Fox yesterday and now having read this lengthy feature article on the same topic (sidenote: co-author of The Last Lecture with Pausch is WSJ reporter / writer Jeffrey Zaslow. Zaslow wrote the feature in today's WSJ. See how it is all fitting together?), I was mildly interested in learning more about the book (this is how I would describe one of the initial stages I go through with regard to acquiring reading materials - does what I know about the material in question make me want to find out more about it? If so, this would eventually possibly lead me towards acquiring a copy of the material, be it a book, magazine, etc.), but now that I have personally learned of the man and the book, I certainly want to read it!

Earlier I alluded to Pausch's problem - diagnosis with a terminal illness, leaving him with only months to live. Without trying to re-write the entire WSJ article, he decided to deliver a "last lecture" to his students and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh and to make the very most of the time he had left with his wife and 3 young children. I am familiar with the concept of giving a "last lecture"; one of my favored professors at the University of Nebraska, Dr. John Janovy (link to his biological laboratory webpage can be found amongst those posted here at Garblog) delivered one while I was an undergraduate (I was unable to attend due to a schedule conflict, but upon my request, he sent me a written copy for my reading pleasure), but his was notional, he wasn't staring in the face of having just a few months of life on this planet. In fact, Dr. Janovy continues to teach and influence young people to this day, more than 5 years on from his "last lecture". Pausch really did walk away after his last lecture, to devote his remaining days to his family, that and palliative medical treatment. I think that makes a huge difference in what a person would choose to include in that last lecture.

There are other books along the same vein out there; what comes to my mind right now are Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven (both by Mitch Albom), and of course Lance Armstrong's It's Not About The Bike and Every Second Counts. The lesson bears repeating and we all need a reminder now and then (I certainly do): make the most of your time on this Earth, because it is certainly finite.

One other thing about stories like Pausch's - people in similar circumstances sometimes remark something to the effect that their "death sentence" is really a blessing, because it allows them to say goodbye to people in a way of their choosing, unlike people who are killed in car accidents or die of cardiac arrest (I would add to this the perils of folks in my line of work, one risk of which is dying on the field of battle far from home). These people are taken suddenly and immediately. Regrets of omission or commission in a life lived up to then cannot be addressed in an earthly fashion, thereby, I would argue, are denied something that Pausch and others terminally ill are granted.

"May you live every day like it was your last" (but marshal enough to allow yourself to live for a long time, if you are fortunate enough to do so!)

GJS

Travel

Headed west today on business. Should only be a few days. I have been to all the places we are going to before. Closing the airplane door - have to sign off. More to follow later.



GJS

Hale'iwa Metric Century Ride Recap

Wow - I am actually going to have time to write about an event the day it happened! This is how it should be, actually, while my thoughts on it are fresh. Normally, however, I do not have the luxury of the time to do it, but today I do! Read on...

For review, today I did a "metric century" bike ride. That means a 100 kilometer ride (about 62 miles), although my GPS told me when I was done that I had only gone about 60 miles, even though I rode the entire event course - honest! At any rate, it went much better than I could have hoped! No, I wasn't anywhere near the "peloton" that lead the way, I took it easy, particularly on the first half. What made it a successful ride for me was the strategy I used, one I need to get used to using, for it is the only way I will be able to complete the Half Ironman next month - going easy on the first half and then pushing a little bit on the second half. I ended up with a very desirable "negative split" - that is, riding the second half of the event faster than the first. When a rider is able to do that, it indicates a sound pacing strategy was used. My goal for the ride overall was to finish in 4 hours of riding or less (not counting stops at aid stations - I turn off the watch during those times), and I handily did that. I finished in 3 hours 34 minutes. Here's how it broke out:

I made three "pit stops" total, one approximately each 1/4 of the way through.

Lap 1 17.19 miles 1:07:00 15.4 mph avg
Lap 2 11.83 miles 0:44:27 16.0 mph avg
Lap 3 12.09 miles 0:42:22 17.1 mph avg
Lap 4 17.81 miles 1:00:13 17.7 mph avg

Laps 1 and 4 and laps 2 and 3 are roughly equivalent (covered the same pieces of road), so that's how you can compare each segment.

Some overall totals:

Average speed: 16.5 mph
Total calories : 3445 (not sure if I buy this - seems pretty high to me)
Average heart rate: 121 bpm
Max heart rate: 175 bpm
Total ascent: 1295 feet (includes all climbs over the entire course - it's a pretty flat course overall)

Just for fun, I looked up my stats for this ride in 2006. I shouldn't have - I finished in 3 hours flat and averaged 18.8 mph over the entire course. Ah well, today's event was for completion only, but it does let me know where I am at in comparison. I went on to run the same Half Ironman race in 2006 after doing this metric century ride, too.

All is not lost, though - I think today's ride was much more enjoyable than the 2006 version! There are several reasons for this. First, I had no flat tires today (lucky, really; there were lots of other folks with blowouts along the way). I had 2 flats on this course in 2006 - not a good day. Also, there was nothing but bright Hawaiian sunshine out there today, and fairly calm winds (normal tradewinds notwithstanding). In 2006, it rained off and on over the entire duration of the event. I wrote in my notes that it was a "dirty, wet ride." Today was neither. And since I wasn't "dodging raindrops" today, there was more opportunity to take in the beautiful scenery. If you like beaches, azure blue sea, surf, mountains, and blue sky, this is one event that has all that! All in all, I am glad I did the event today.

GJS

The Next Event

Tomorrow morning is the Haleiwa Metric Century Ride.  To tell the truth, I am not feeling the best about the event.  Normally, I could scoff at a 62-mile ride, but this spring, the longest ride I have been able to get in has been barely 30 miles.  I will be "doubling that ride up" tomorrow morning.  Ugh...and that bodes not so well for the Half Ironman in just over a month.  Prep simply has not been there.  Tomorrow may be a long day for me, foreshadowing to the Big Island next month.  I will be able to complete both events, that I am confident of, but the times are going to be way off.  This just in the way of expectation management...

 

This has not been a good month for me, training-wise.  I have not been traveling for work, but neither have I been able to get any workouts in during the workday in probably 4 weeks.  Grumpiness is the result.  Add to this a nasty chest cold over the past ~2 weeks that has allowed zero training at all (even on weekends) and you can probably get a feel for the "funk" I need to break out of - give me some exercise-induced endorphins!

 

Even if the time is crappy for tomorrow, I will post the results here.  Same for the Half Ironman next month.

 

GJS

No Marines slated for de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan

Associated Press April 22, 2008

No Marines slated for de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The United States has no immediate plans to send Marine guards to its de facto embassy in Taiwan, a U.S. official said.

State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States does not "intend to place Marines, at this point" at the American Institute in Taiwan.

Casey's comment in Washington on Monday followed the weekend publication in two Taiwanese newspapers of a State Department advertisement calling for contractors to build a facility to house Marines at the new AIT compound in Taipei. It is customary for the United States to put Marine guards in its embassies and consulates worldwide. Casey said the ad in the Taiwanese newspapers may have been confusing. "What is happening is there are discussions about having a new compound or new complex built to replace the existing AIT structure in Taipei," he said. "The notices that have gone out have included the broadest possible kinds of elements that might be included in there."

Since the United States switched its recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, there have been no Marine guards at its Taipei facility in keeping with the deliberately low American profile on Taiwan. Almost 60 years after Taiwan and China split amid civil war, the United States does not treat the island as an independent country. Instead, it acknowledges China's claim that Taiwan is part of Chinese territory, and calls on the two sides to reach a final agreement on Taiwan's status through peaceful means. The new U.S. compound in Taipei is a part of a large-scale State Department overseas construction program. The facility, to be built in the city's Neihu district, will replace an aging downtown compound.

***

Nothing follows.

GJS

Trading

Last night I took the final exam for my non-resident professional military education (PME) seminar course. That was the last piece of the first year (basically the first "half") or phase of the program. Interestingly, I also was able to score the Mandarin Chinese Rosetta Stone set of materials from my local library on the same day. So I finished my PME requirements, and now am able to start right in on learning Chinese!



I *should* be able to complete the second year of the PME program at Monterey or wherever we end up going for language training. It is in my best interest to finish it prior to entering the Olmsted program because, well, it's a required course for captains (someday soon I will be one), and in order to be promoted beyond the rank of captain, you must have completed it. With no inkling of where my follow-on assignment after Taiwan will be and whether or not they will offer the Expeditionary Warfare School non-resident seminar, plus not knowing what types of commitments away from home (i.e. deployments) will come with that posting, it is just best to knock it out in as short order as possible. Sure, adding that to learning Mandarin full-time will not make either one easier, but in my mind (not having begun learning Mandarin yet), both things involve being a student and learning, so to me they seem to be somewhat complimentary activities, not mutually exclusive ones.



Off to run - first run since last weekend's triathlon. Been trying to rest up and recover from the race (plus I was devoting all my spare time to preparing for last night's EWS exam). Now that those things have been accomplished, it's time to run again!



GJS

USS Sampson featured in All Hands magazine

A while back one of my brothers sent me a message indicating that, when completed, the new destroyer USS Sampson would be "...capable of fighting air, surface, and subsurface battles simultaneously." He went on to deadpan, "We should all be so lucky." Not to be outdone, witty brother #2 added "We would each need a couple more arms to be able to do all that at once." Indeed.

Last month the US Navy's All Hands magazine did a feature article on the newly-in-service Sampson. Check it out here (extract from the full magazine):

Read this doc on Scribd: USS Sampson 4.0

She is homeported in San Diego. Perhaps this Sampson will have a chance to visit that Sampson sometime in the future.

GJS

Lanikai Triathlon

The race went very well.  You can see the results here:

http://www.bocahawaii.com/LANIKAI08Overall.TXT

You will have to scroll down a bit to see my results; I came in 104th.  I was surprised with how well the swim went - I was out of the water in about 9 minutes (my posted swim time includes part of the transition from swim to run).  Part of this was a result of what I think was the inadvertent shortening of the course.  One of the buoys snapped off from its mooring while the athletes were in the water and it was pushed to shore by the current.  We just swam after it, resulting in what seemed to be a distinct "rounding off" of the final corner as we turned to head to shore. 

This event did not employ chip timing.  Certainly, this is a bit odd; it seems that just about every event nowadays does use that technology to give the most accurate timing and splits for each individual.  Even the small 5k I ran on base a couple weeks ago, with barely 100 competitors, had chip timing. 

I was not surprised that I had trouble maintaining a good speed / power output on the bike.  I simply haven't been doing enough cycling to have developed my cycling skills enough to maintain a high rate of speed over even a short course triathlon such as this one, with a bike portion barely 10 miles in length.  There was one monster of a hill at the halfway point, though!  That one hurt - but I passed probably 10 people on the way up it!

And then on the run, I was pleased to average a sub-8:00 per mile pace in a fatigued state, although I know that if I had a better running base built up at this point, I could have hammered this course.  It had a few rolling hills and ended with about a half-mile segment on the soft white sand of Kailua Beach.

All in all, not a bad day for a guy who hasn't "tri'd" since summer 2006!  This certainly bodes well for the Half Ironman race that I will run on the Big Island next month (that is, as long as I can keep some semblance of a training program going between now and then - we'll see what my work travel schedule ends up looking like).

GJS

Trying a Tri

This morning I will be running my first triathlon since mid-summer 2006. Wish me luck! It is a sprint distance race consisting of a 500m open water (ocean) swim, a 20k bike ride (approx. 12 mi), and topped off with a 5k (3.1 mi) run. I will post results and such once they are available.

GJS

Nagl to leave US Army

Army Lieutenant Colonel John Nagl, noted counterinsurgency author and up-and-coming thinker, is set to retire from the service.  Looks like this has been on the street for a while (Washington Post article linked below is from January 2008); not sure why I only came across it now.  (I usually keep up with developments such as this fairly well between all the various publications and forums I try to keep current on.)  I don't know him personally but I am familiar with his work.  This is a tremendous loss; we (the US military) need more people like him, not less.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/15/AR2008011503359.html

His latest op-ed in The New York Times (from last week) is here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02nagl.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=opinion

At least he is still planning to continue focusing on the same strategic security and counterinsurgency themes in his new think-tank job as he has in the past.

GJS

Haircut: Before, During and After

I recently received some reader comments to the effect of, "Your son is a hippy, get his hair cut." I guess the cute blonde-haired surfer boy look is not high on this individual's scale of acceptable hair styles! :-) Seriously, though, it was time for a haircut, so here are the photos you have been waiting for!

Some "before" pictures:

What a great "mane" of hair! Now, during...

And the final result...

GJS

Update on "The Charmed Life"

The title of this post in no way refers to any silly reality television show or half-baked Hollywood celebrity of the moment. Rather, it is a paraphrase of Barb's opinion on what type of life we (or perhaps more particularly, I) lead. When things like Olmsted happen, she says to me, "You live a charmed life, dear." More often than not, I have to agree! Things are going very well...

First, lets do an "Olmsted Update" - what is the latest news? I have been negotiating with my service as to where and when I will start / conduct Mandarin language training. It looks to me, at this point, like we're going to Monterey, California. Realistically, this location was the most likely one all along, but I was pushing to go to the Washington, D.C. area for language training, instead. The struggle is not over, but I am coming to terms with the likelihood that Monterey will be the place I learn Mandarin. It's not all that bad; I have heard nothing but great things about the location itself, about 2 hours south of San Francisco and adjacent to the famous Pebble Beach Golf Links (I'm not a golfer, but if you know the virtues of that famous course, that should tell you a little bit about the picturesque beauty of the area). I have already begun to look at what triathlons, marathons, and other races will be held in the area while we are there, and while it is too soon to sign up for any, it is never too soon to plan!

The course I am looking at in Monterey begins in early July 2008 and ends in late July 2009. That will be just in time for moving to Taiwan, getting set up, and starting graduate school in September 2009. So that's the big-picture timeline as of now. Standby for changes...

Let's talk 5k race results from last weekend: it's been a week, and I have still to see any results posted online (and believe me, I have been looking!), so if you checked out the link I said would take you to the results and found out it didn't take you to any, don't be alarmed - as far as I can tell, they haven't been posted yet. I'll just have to give you the "unofficial" results based on the time from my watch, and - oh yeah - the medal I brought home with me...the race went better than I ever could have hoped! I placed third in my age group and took home the corresponding "hardware" mentioned above. Granted, it's a fairly small race (maybe 100 - 150 participants), and my overall time, while not impressive to look at in and of itself (25:39 for a 5k - pretty slow! That's an 8:14 per mile pace), that doesn't take into account that the course was very "windy", snaking across several parts of the Kaneohe golf course on its way to and from the part that really slows down the overall pace and time, the almost 1/3 of the race that was on the soft sand of the beach! If you take out that part of the race, where I could only manage a pace ~8:30 per mile, for the rest of it I was well under 7:30 per mile! For a guy who hasn't raced at any distance since fall 2006 before deploying to the Philippines, I was overjoyed - all this, and no pain from my Achilles, before, during or after! It would seem, my friends, that I am back in business! Yes!

And now I've got my sights set on a couple multisport events: first, the Lanikai sprint distance triathlon next weekend, and a little bit further down the road, the Ironman 70.3 Hawaii on 31 May. The latter event will allow us to, as the saying goes, kill two birds with one stone - I wanted to run one last big race before we leave Hawaii, which looks like it will happen not long after the event, and also to get Barb and John over to the Big Island, where they have not been yet (I went for the same triathlon in 2006, just weeks after John was born. He was too young to travel at the time and Barb had no interest in traveling so soon after giving birth, thus my solo effort that time.). Once we make that trip, Barb and I will have been to four of the six principal Hawaiian islands, excluding only Lanai and Molokai. Maybe on our next rotation here we can hit both of those...coming back again for a third tour in Hawaii is not out of the question, and in fact, the more I think about it, I think it is quite possible due to the unique expertise and skills that I will acquire during my time as an Olmsted Scholar. But only time will tell...

********

OK, time to wrap this up - I wrote the preceding portion before my 2 hour bike ride this morning. I have been doing only the bare minimum for biking in preparation for my upcoming events (seems like finding time to fit in this most time-intensive of the three disciplines of triathlon is one of the hardest riddles to solve for me now - I usually can only get out for a single training ride each week, so I try to make it count), and today's ride is the longest one I have done since the layoff from training, etc. in late 2006 until recent days. I went just over 30 miles. Legs are definitely fatigued, as that I included a few pretty good climbs and tried to stay in the saddle for as much of them as I could. You see, in the 2006 Honu Half Ironman race, I discovered a couple things about my cycling. First, I was not prepared then for the volume of aero position riding that one needs to be able to do to find success at longer triathlon distances, such as the Half Ironman distance. Granted, I had only received my first set of aero bars something like a month before the race, a birthday present (thanks Barb!), so I didn't have much time to get used to them, and clearly I wasn't. I couldn't maintain power in the aero position for very long before having to move to another grip / position. Building further on that, I also discovered that I needed to be able to climb AND climb into a continuous headwind in the aero bars. I certainly wasn't good at that in 2006. But these are the things I am working on when I ride now so that when I am on the bike on the Big Island next month and I am going up the hill to Hawi on the North Shore (the location of the turn-around on the bike leg for the Half Ironman, and for the Hawaii Ironman World Championship race, too! The bike course shares many similarities between the two events.) and the wind is blowing in my face the whole way, like it was in 2006, I want to be able to climb in the aero position so I don't fatigue myself fighting the drag of the wind so much. That's all. I hope the strategy works.

I'll write more later if I have time - I hope that I have time! I still owe you pictures and video of John! (I know that's the real reason you check this page, and we aim to please!)

Interesting Reading

Here are a couple interesting links (for runners) I came across this morning.

http://www.kevinandnan.com/kevin/running/2008run2sun.html
http://www.kevinandnan.com/kevin/running/2008gar.html

This gentleman posted his training logs and race notes for a couple recent events here in Hawaii.

Olmsted - The Decision

Well, you won't find it in any "official" message traffic stating this for several weeks, if not months, but I received word yesterday that I have been accepted by the Olmsted Foundation as a 2009 Olmsted Scholar! I had made the case to go to Japan based on my previous experiences there and the fact that I know some of the language already (I took 3 semesters of Japanese language in college), but the Foundation decided they wanted me to study in...Kaohsiung (高雄; Gāoxióng), Taiwan! We are all very excited about the prospect of heading to language training and then to Taiwan for a couple of years for my graduate school. We'd like to thank everyone who helped in making this possible - you know who you are! Once we have some information about when we will leave Hawaii for language training, where that language training will take place, etc., it will appear in this space. Time to learn Mandarin Chinese!

If I had enough time, I would post like this every day!

Hello all!

Greetings once again from beautiful Hawaii! It was a great Hawaii day - beautiful blue skies, puffy white clouds, lots of golden sunshine, and multiple exercise sessions today!

First, let's talk about running (and other related triathlon-type endurance sports). This morning I did probably the best run (and certainly one of the longest) I have done since last August when I quit running because of my balky left Achilles. It was just over 4 miles, with several light to moderate hills built in and several "fartlek" - type speed intervals as well! And no protests from the Achilles, then or now! We'll see how it feels tomorrow, though... I also managed to hit the gym at lunchtime and followed it with a 1000 yd swim. Add that on top of the 1-hour bike ride I did yesterday morning, and I am on a roll! It feels really good to be back in business, although it is hard not to try to compare the types of paces I am able to hold now (fairly slow) to what I once did, before the deployment and injury. It has been a tough year and a half! But I think I am finally moving past this difficult period in my overall record of athletic endeavours. This training I am doing is going towards an upcoming race! Yes! It is time to get back out and start doing a few events, in the hopes that the small ones will put me on a roll towards bigger events in the not-too-distant future. My first race since 2006 is coming up this weekend! Saturday AM there is a 5k race right here on the base that I will run. I expect to run very slow in comparison to my former 5k personal records (PRs), but that's OK, for now. I am just trying to get back out there and see how it feels to run a race. If the 5k goes well, I will follow it up in a few weeks with a sprint triathlon in the small town outside the gate to the base. There are plenty of other events scheduled 'round the island (road races, bike rides, bike races, open water swims, triathlons, etc.) that I can add to the schedule with ease should these couple of initial events go well (and I have every reason to believe that they will). My ultimate near- and mid-term goal is to regain some semblance of consistency in my training that will allow me to run a Half Ironman race around midyear and maybe a marathon later in the fall. (See one of my previous posts for a few hints / details about what /where these races may be.) I think it is definitely possible. If you want to check out the race results after Saturday, look here. (You will probably have to scroll down quite a ways - I told you, I am slow now!)

Yesterday was Easter. We observed the occasion by attending religious services at our local house of worship. Silly us, we forgot to take the camera, and the service was followed by an Easter egg hunt for the youngsters on the green outside the worship hall. John had a hey-day scooping up eggs and filled his basket in no time flat. He had a great time. No photos exist of this joyous time (Sorry, we don't normally take the camera to church! By the time we thought of it, we were halfway there.), BUT... we have created a work-around. In recognizing that this event, John's first Easter egg hunt, should be immortalized on film, we re-created the event with the eggs he seized at the church by hiding them in the back yard of our house. So, the photos you will see posted here are not quite the originals, i.e. they are not of John's "official" first Easter egg hunt, but a close second. Regardless, I think you will agree that he is a cute little fellow!

Last weekend Barb and I went to Kauai. It was just the two of us; our friends here on base agreed to watch John for the weekend and let us go unrestrained by child in exchange for returning the favor with their young son at a future time (their son is John's favorite playmate). Kauai is quite striking in its beauty. We had only two days there, so we had to pick and choose what we wanted to do and see. I think we made some pretty good choices. We did some snorkeling the first day, then drove up to the North shore to see the big waves (much like Oahu's North shore, quite frankly, except the road up there on Kauai reminded me of the Road to Hana on Maui in that it is quite filled with tight turns, often is very narrow (in many places, it is actually only one lane wide!), and features one-way, one-lane bridges, a couple of which are wooden! The second day we drove from our hotel on the East coast of the island all the way out to the West side of the island to see the much-ballyhooed Waimea Canyon, the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." True fact: I have not been to the Grand Canyon in the American Southwest (I know, I know, how sad! I plan to fix myself at my earliest opportunity.), so I can't compare the two except with what I have seen in photos. You decide: here are some of our photos of Waimea Canyon. We also went on a hike along a ridge overlooking the Na Pali coast. It was absolutely gorgeous up there! Check it out:

I hope we get a chance to return to Kauai! It was a great trip! Except for the busted-open head I got. (Don't ask how this happened; just know that it was due to clumsiness.)

This week is a big week for me, career-wise. It's Olmsted decision week! I think the big day is actually tomorrow, 25 March, if I remember correctly. The Board of Directors of the Olmsted Foundation meet this week at an undisclosed location to decide which of the services' candidates will be selected for the program. I haven't heard much from the Foundation since my interview with them on 21 Dec 2007, except for routine responses to a couple of information updates I sent to them with materials to include in my candidate record that will be briefed to the Board this week to allow them to make their decision. I was told that representatives from each of the services will be present at the Board's meeting and that that person will contact me either tomorrow or Wednesday with the word. Through official channels (remember the MARADMIN messages I mentioned way back when when I applied for the program?), word probably won't come until sometime in May, based on historical precedent. I expect to know by the end of the month, at the latest. I just want to get the decision over with, be it "up" or "down". If I'm in, wonderful, I really think the program is the best thing going! But if I'm not, I need to know as soon as I can - I need to get where I am moving to this year figured out! Not long after I find out, I will post the results here for all who are interested.

I don't know if I have talked about the professional military education (PME) seminar I am currently enrolled in this forum. It's called Expeditionary Warfare School Distance Education Program (EWSDEP). This is the prescribed PME requirement for company-level Marine officers. The seminar program is broken out into two academic years. I am currently in the first year, almost done with it, in fact. I started class last October and we will finish the first year next month.

I only mention all of that because once that is over, I want to take some summer grad school classes. Ideally, I could take a class from HPU in the Master of Arts in Diplomacy and Military Studies (MA/DMS) program that I started in back in 2006 before deploying to the Philippines, but my fear is that I am still going to be traveling too much because of work to make it worth even trying. For example, it currently looks like I will be in Thailand for most of May. I have heard that Dr. Allan Millett will be teaching at HPU in the MA/DMS program again this summer and I would love to take another class with him (although not the same one; unfortunately, I think he may only be teaching the same "20th Century Military History" course that I took from him in 2006 - topic was the Korean War). I plan to research this further in the next few days so I am informed in my decision-making. If HPU is a no-go, then I think it is time for me to start online grad school classes; I really think that the advantages offered by the asynchronous mode online courses are offered in lends itself towards my current time and availability limitations, but I do want to take a traditional, attend-in-person class if at all possible (I think I learn better that way). Anyhow, I am resolved to continue my graduate education this summer, even if it is a single course. I have a feeling a much more robust graduate school regimen is not too far in my future, be it with the Olmsted Scholar Program or simply grad school taken in conjunction with my next duty station...

Final topic for tonight is this: who has heard of Crossfit? I just learned of it this weekend. I feel somewhat in arrears; after all, it is a fitness training system, and me, the exercise science major, NSCA and ACSM certified fitness profession, I had never even heard of the program! (Thanks to Niall for telling me about it.) I checked out their website, and I need to do additional reading of their materials, but in reading their October 2002 edition of The Crossfit Journal (you can download it from their website), I find that I either agree with or do not disagree with most everything in it! They discuss their definition of fitness, the 10 factors that contribute to their concept of overall fitness, and the three metabolic pathways and how to condition each. Spot on! The NSCA recently started a Tactical Strength and Conditioning (TSAC) program that, from what I can tell, is aimed at the same clientele (military, fire, police, first responder personnel, etc) who need functional fitness, not pretty, showy bodybuilder muscles. I welcome this change in the fitness industry; too long has it been the other way.

All for tonight. Time for growth sleep!

(Below is a test - can you see The Crossfit Journal edition mentioned above?)

Read this doc on Scribd: CFJ-trial

Slacker

From the road:

I am traveling with the boss again this week. It is a "rockstar" lifestyle, to be sure. This latest round of trips took us to Okinawa, Bangladesh,and Thailand, with a pitstop on the Japanese mainland on the way back to Hawaii. Then the boss was off again to DC last week (thankfully he left me behind for that part of the traveling), and now we are in a new place (not Hawaii). This round of the trip is slated to last approximately 2 weeks. There are a lot of frequent flyer miles to be had in this line of work!

Let's talk about running and , gasp, RACES! for a little bit. I have been running pain-free for something like a week now. At this place in the game (at almost injury + 1 year), this is great! So great that I have been talking with Barb about trying to run some races this year. As a note, I ran 0 (zero) races in 2007. Bad year, I know. That's how it goes sometimes, I guess. And it makes you appreciate more (like I am now) the prospects of running a race or two, something that I was able to do not so long ago literally dozens of times a year. I don't think I am going to be approaching that type of frequency again anytime soon, but I think I am going to get more than zero races in this year. I've got my eye on a couple out in this neck of the woods and a few back on the Mainland, depending on where we go (duty station-wise) and when.

First, the Hawaii Ironman 70.3 Honu, I think is on 31 May this year. I did this race in 2006. It's a Half Ironman race and a little sightseeing and recreation with the family (went over solo in 2006 since John had just been born) in conjunction with the race is the goal. Barb and John haven't been over to the Big Island yet and we want to make sure they get a chance to see it before we rotate out of here.

If this doesn't work, another race I've got my eye on (same distance event) is a Half Ironman in Boise, Idaho around that same time. Building on the theme of trying to "multitask" with race events, some of our best friends in the world live in the Boise area and it has been several years since we have had a chance to get up their way to see them. It's beautiful country, we'd love to visit with our friends, and I'm sure they put on a good race up there. Time will tell if this is a go.

Back out this way,I've heard nothing but good things about the Maui Marathon, which goes in September. We've not been back to Maui since spring 2006 before John was born (not because we didn't enjoy our stay - we did!) and we want to get back over there before it's time to move away from Hawaii.

Well, these are just a few events that have me excited about possibly running this year. Obviously a lot of things have to fall into place for any of these to happen, not the least of which is for me to stay as healthy as possible and to get as much consistent training in as I can manage during the travels across the globe.

I hope we can see some of you on our travels!

Best regards from Korea,

Gary

"Diarrhea of the Keyboard"

Well, ladies and gents, it happened - I essentially missed last week in terms of making a substantive post. Oh yes, I wrote a little bit, announcing the posting of the official MARADMIN regarding Olmsted nominations (see below), but that hardly counts. Today I will make it count.

First, since I mentioned Olmsted, you should know that I am heading to the Washington, D.C. area next week for an interview, in person, with their people. This is an exciting development! Yes, it is not much of a surprise that an interview will take place; after all, that was the next logical step of the selection process. But the fact that it is going to happen so soon - wow! Of course, that is by choice. I could have waited longer to do the interview, but I had no guarantee of my availability next month (that was the other time window they offered) to make the trip, while I knew that I could be available next week to go see them. So I jumped at the chance.

My interview will be on Thursday, 20 December. I will have the opportunity to visit with Patrick and Maxine while I am in the area, which is always nice. Of course, I was going to be seeing them again quite soon, anyhow, with the upcoming pilgrimage to Nebraska for the holidays, one that, I might add, I have not been able to participate in the previous two years due to deployments in support of the Global War on Terrorism. (Or is it The Long War now? At any rate, I was in Iraq in 2005 and in the Philippines last year; I am happy to be home here with Barb and John this year and even happier to be heading back to see all the family and friends in Nebraska this holiday season!)

The Olmsted Foundation offered two ways to interview: either by phone or in person. To me, if you can make the trip and interview in person (and knowing that not everyone will be able to; some candidates are no-doubt "downrange" right now, i.e. in Iraq or someplace else taking the fight to the country's enemies), that is always preferable to taking the easy way, i.e. the phone. I think it shows more of a commitment to the program, that you want it more. Of course, it is still of vital importance to have a good interview; you can't just show up and throw your foot in your mouth and come away better than a person who maybe had a tremendous phone interview. But I digress... just wanted to let everyone know that I am heading out to DC this week to take care of business. Wish me luck! (Although when I say that to folks around here, they often say that they decline to do so, because, according to them, I don't need it. Instead, they wish me continued success. It's nice either way!)

I also wanted to write a little bit about running. Readers may find it interesting that there has been no mention of "thrashing" in this web log for a long, long time. Most of that time can be accounted to simply not making entries at all, but since I started back at this last month, there has been a different reason...as some of you already know, I have suffered this year my first real injury from running. Sure, everyone turns an ankle or tweaks a hamstring now and then in the athletic business , but those injuries are by and large of the minor type that sideline a person for a week or two, tops, most of the time. Me, on the other hand, I have been suffering from chronic Achilles tendonitis for most of this year. To this day, I still do not know what exactly caused its onset. All I know is that when I came back from the Philippines in April, running was not the same for me. My left Achilles tendon would ache in the days after I would complete a run. And the funny part about it to me was that the runs I was doing were not what I would consider to be "hard" - they were between 3 and 5 miles in length, mostly on flat terrain, maybe a few rolling hills thrown in here and there, all conducted on base here where I live. These were the types of runs only 6 months earlier I could have done two to three times in succession without being particularly spent. Now I was struggling with what was formerly so easy...what gives?

My theory now, looking back, is that it was the relatively sedate daily routine that I endured over the 5 months of deployment to the Philippines. Yes, I did some running, but not nearly as much as I had become accustomed to prior to the deployment, and I did a heck of a lot of sitting in front of a computer (unfortunately the main staple of almost all "leadership" or "management" positions nowadays, even for Marine platoon commanders, believe it or not, at least when they are assigned to a position on a staff somewhere and not in charge of taking the Marines out for daily physical training or field training evolutions), working 14-16 hour days, 7 days a week for 5 months. Then I came home and figured I could go (run) like I did before the deployment. Times were, I probably could have (about 10 years ago). But (this refrain will sound familiar to a lot of you out there, methinks...) I am not as young as I used to be, and the left Achilles may just be a weak point on me (an aptly-labelled piece of anatomy, in my opinion).

So, you're thinking, you realized something was wrong with your left leg in April...how come this is something that is still a problem? There is another part of me that I must tell you about, not related to anatomy that plays into this. It's called being stubborn. I have this trait by the bucket...ask my mother or Barb. :-) I decided that I was not going to let a bum ankle stop me, it couldn't be anything serious, and that it would work itself out. I was going to continue to run, just at a somewhat reduced rate compared to the 30 - 40 mile weeks that I was putting in before I deployed. I would heal up and be able to run then Honolulu Marathon in December, setting a new personal record. Fat chance. I struggled along with my running over the next few months, never feeling like I was doing well enough to enter in any road races or triathlons, things that I normally love to do. Finally, after a run I did in Korea on 25 August, I was so frustrated with the nagging injury and bothersome discomfort it caused that I decided to do stop running. This was a drastic step for a guy who loves to run and race. Bear in mind, I still had not sought medical attention. I did some self-therapy for the injured limb sporadically (icing it, stretching it, massage), but these things never really seemed to do much good. All I could think is that I needed to stop running to let it heal. It was a tough decision to make.

I was surprised by how easy it was to enforce the decision. I thought beforehand that I would want to go out and run and it would be hard to not do it. But the truth was that running with the injury was not very enjoyable at all and I was happy to not be forcing myself to do it. But I couldn't not do some sort of cardiovascular exercise...just think how quickly and completely my aerobic capacity would suffer! So I began to ride the exercise bicycle at the gym on a near-daily basis, building up from 30 minutes at a time to 60 minutes per session. I found that these early morning cardio sessions at the gym were a fairly good substitute for the running, at least in terms of keeping some modicum of aerobic fitness, plus they allowed me an hour each morning to read some of the periodicals and books that I have a hard time fitting into my schedule otherwise! So there was a silver lining to not being able to run - it gave me more time to do something else that I love, read!

So I continued this for several months, until finally in November I began to wonder when I would try to run again. I can't remember ever deliberately (consciously) making a decision about when I would try to start running again, but a date was set - after the Honolulu Marathon (it was on 9 December this year). Having missed the race in 2006 due to the Philippines deployment, I had been wanting to run it this year in the worst way (a large factor in why I continued to run even though it was not working for me - I had a deadline to meet!), and the injury was keeping me from doing so. So on Sunday, 9 December, consciously ignorant that the marathon was even taking place across the island, I got out my running gear, neglected for the past 3+ months, and packed it for Monday morning's run. What the heck? Why not start back at it tomorrow? I thought. It's worth a shot - see how the Achilles is doing. Maybe I can run pain-free again? I've waited a long time.

So I ran. I ran Monday, and it was good. Then I ran Wednesday. It too was good. Then Friday. It was good, with an asterisk (*). Let me explain. Monday was pain-free, all the way. I didn't run far, only a couple of miles, and only about half a mile at a time, with walk breaks in between. Aerobically, this was not challenging to me, nor should it have been. But with such a long time not running, I didn't want to overdo it on the first day back. Buoyed by Monday's successful run, I ran again Wednesday. This time, I lengthened the running portions to a little over 3/4 mile each, still walking between each one, and keeping my total run distance to only a couple of miles. No pain during or after the run. This is good. Let's try Friday: I used the same formula, lengthen the run portions a bit, walk in between. I may have gone a bit too far. After running for a bit over a mile continuously, I began to feel a twinge in my left Achilles. Not good. So I stopped running and walked for a time. Then I ran again, about half a mile. No pain. I completed the workout pain-free. Moral of the story: listed to your body.

So I am running again. I think it will be slow-going to to get back where I was (~18:00 for 3 miles), but even the longest journey starts with a single step. I have made that step - in a running shoe!

The Official Announcement - Olmsted

The much-anticipated Olmsted announcement MARADMIN is on the street! You can see it here. This is the official announcement of what I was unofficially informed of last week. As you can see, I have two weeks to respond whether I want to continue the process or not. Hmmm...I wonder what I am going to say? :-)

Welcome, December!

Ha! It's only been a week and I am back already! Now I just need to maintain the momentum going forward.


Let's start with a fun topic - John! Here are some new words he is saying:

• Lunch
• Walk
• Shoes

This little guy is such fun! He enjoys wrestling with his Dada and tickling my feet. Of course, I do my fair share (and then some!) of tickling him, too! He's quite ticklish.

Today we took him to see Santa at the local daycare center. This was his first meeting with the jolly old fellow. You can see he didn't like it much! :-(

But, by the end of our visit, he was on better terms with Santa, even saying "Santa" as he met a "friendlier" version of Old Saint Nick.

Good news on the Olmsted program front: I found out this week that I made the cut at the service (USMC) level! I have no idea how many folks submitted applications, but according to the message I got, eight of us were nominated by the Marine Corps to the Olmsted Foundation. Now we will undergo an additional screening process that will determine which of us will be allowed to undergo the outstanding language training and overseas study regimen that is so unique to this program. Traditionally, the foundation picks three of the nominated Marine candidates to become Olmsted Scholars, so wish me luck! Last week I said that a administrative message called a MARADMIN would announce the nominees and I provided a link to the web page where they are posted; last I checked, the message had not yet been posted. The MARADMIN is the "public" announcement; obviously, the message I received was in a different forum.

When I went to worship services last week, the pastor had listed in the weekly bulletin his reading list, i.e. what he is reading now. For some time, I had been considering doing something like that in this forum, too - maybe somebody out there is interested. At any rate, the pastor updates his reading list the first of each month, so I am going to emulate him. What follows is what I am currently reading. (Or listening to, as the case may be - I listen to audiobooks during my morning and evening commute, a strategy that I have found to be tremendously useful over the past 4 months of working across the island from where I live. Audiobooks are denoted with an (A) after their titles. Authors are also noted.

• Better, Atul Gawande


• The March Up: Taking Baghdad with the 1st Marine Division, Bing West and Major General Ray L. Smith


• COBRA II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq (A), Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor (Note: when I took a graduate school course at Hawaii Pacific University last summer on the Korean War, the instructor was Dr. Allan R. Millett, a retired Marine colonel and renowned military historian in his own right (see his bio here). COBRA II had recently been published and he told us that the book was "about 98% right" with regard to its subject matter, according to contacts of his, the likes of whom, in my estimation, probably would know what they are talking about. I am over 2/3 of the way through the book and I have found it to be very interesting.)

Now I must say a few words about why I am reading what I am reading. Mr. Gawande, who also wrote a book called Complications a few years ago that I read, is a surgeon who writes very well (he writes shorter pieces for The New Yorker) on medicine and being a surgeon. Each chapter is a vignette on some aspect of the aforementioned topics. I really enjoyed Complications and had Barb read it after I was done. I plan to do the same with Better when I finish it. It's not hard to understand why she would be interested in a book about medicine, since she is a registered nurse. But why me? I can't say exactly. Those who have known me for several years, including when I was attending the University of Nebraska and working at Lincoln Benefit Life / Allstate Financial Services a few years back, know that I considered various medical fields as career options at various stages of my way through my undergraduate curriculum in exercise science. I just find it interesting, that's about the best I can say. I can't rule out someday perhaps indulging in some way my interest in medicine or a related field (for instance, attending some sort of medical-type school or training), but that is for later. Plus, as I mentioned, Gawande is a heck of a writer. I would probably find anything he wrote interesting, regardless of the topic.

It may be easier, given my current profession, to explain the next two selections, as that they deal with aspects of the fight that our nation is currently engaged in out in the Middle East. Anyone who wears the uniform today should be interested in these books and books like them, if you ask me. This is our recent military history. My strategy on the topic of Operation Iraqi Freedom (or OIF, in the common parlance of the military) is bombarding myself with numerous works on the subject simultaneously / near-simultaneously. I have quite a queue of books / audiobooks lined up to replace the current OIF works when I finish with them (see below for a list), and when I get a few more of these digested, I aspire to write a review essay covering all of them. Whether or not I can make a coherent piece remains to be seen. Maybe I can find a venue that would publish it - time will tell. (Aside from self-publishing right here or on Amazon.com - that's too easy!)

I came to the study / reading topic of OIF by following the chronological thread from al-Qaeda (AQ for short) before 9/11 (I listened to Lawrence Wright's 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 last month; and in 2005, while living in the Northern Virginia area (anyone who has done that and commuted by automobile can relate to having plenty of time to crank through audiobooks) I listened to George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War, which not about AQ per se, but it is about Afghanistan in the 1980's and how the US financed and armed the mujahidin fighters against the Soviets), to the 9/11 attacks (I've also read much of The 9/11 Report - haven't been able to finish it yet) and the subsequent Afghan War (Operation Enduring Freedom, or OEF for short) detailed in Bob Woodward's Bush at War which I listened to last month as well. I've also listened to most of Tommy Franks' American Soldier, which covers the range of his long military career, but focuses mainly on his tenure as the commander of United States Central Command in the 9/11 and post-9/11 eras. Now, I am working on OIF materials. Here are the additional OIF-related materials I plan to consume as time permits:

• In the Company of Soldiers, Rick Atkinson


• The Iraq War: A Military History, Williamson Murray and Major General Robert H. Scales, Jr.
  
• With the 1st Marine Division in Iraq, 2003, LtCol Michael S. Groen, et al (the principal author, it should be noted, was my battalion commander here in Hawaii for a year)
  
• On Point: The United States Army in Operation Iraqi Freedom, COL Gregory Fontenot, U.S. Army (Ret.), et al
  

A colleague of mine who knows I am an avid reader asked me recently, after I told him what I was reading now, why I am reading what I am. My reply was this: I think we are now far enough away from (in a chronological sense) the events of 9/11, the Afghan War that followed, and the initial invasion of Iraq to begin obtaining the real lessons of these events. I hope to be able to distill some of this out in whatever I might end up writing in response to the consumption of all these relatively new submissions on the given topics.

If you're wondering where I get my audiobooks from, see the links on the right side of the page. Audible.com is the place. I'm not making a commercial endorsement, I'm just stating fact. Their system works out great for me - I can download entire books, load them into iTunes and store them on my iPod (again, not a commercial endorsement, just the brand of my digital audio), then use a commercially purchased "mount" in my car to cradle the device while I drive and listen. Like I said, it works great for me, I couldn't be happier with the setup I'm using. I hope to use this setup, in conjunction with my daily commute for the next ~6-8 months to knock out many more books!

As a final note on reading, the above only concerns the books that I am working on. I will write another time about the periodicals that I regularly read and other means I use to obtain professional or personal reading materials. Trust me, the list and rationale there is no less lengthy than this installment!



Finally, here is a new video of John clowning around in our back yard saying a version of "Hello". He makes me laugh - I hope he does it for you, too!

Aloha,

Gary, Barb and John