Blue Ridge Relay 2011

Being new to blogging I haven't quiet figured out how to keep up the speed.  I have several other entries I've been putting off and will hopefully get to soon however I want to get this one down before I forget the details.

This past weekend I participated in the Blue Ridge Relay which is a 208 mile race that starts at Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia and ends in Asheville, North Carolina .  A little over a year ago I would not have dreamed of doing something like this but here I am having run in my second race in as many years.

For this year's race I had 4 goals:

• Don't walk on any leg
• Beat my projections*
• Win the bet with the other team**
• Have fun

*A guy on our team (who bailed on us to go to Vegas -- to be in a wedding) is a numbers guy and projects the pace and finish time of each runner.

**We had 2 teams and some of us tried to bet the other team that the team who missed their projection by the most would have to buy the first round of beer at Mellow Mushroom

I accomplished 2 of my goals.  I didn't walk and I had fun.  This race is more than fun though, it's a blast (you should see the email from our team captain -- many exclamation points!!!!).  I beat some of my projections but not all of them.  We didn't just lose to the other team...we were destroyed by them.  They beat us by almost an hour and were projected to beat us by only 7 minutes.  Next year there will be payback!

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 (blue) & 2 (gray)

Our teams were called RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 and 2 .  We do run as fast as we can (some probably while singing the Tiffany song), however we don't compete to win the race.  There are many other teams that are much too fast for us to worry about that.

Like everyone else on our teams I had 4 legs, however, since I am training for the Marine Corps Marathon (I'm running as part of Team Fisher House. Please donate if you can!) I was assigned the legs that totaled the most distance (30 miles).  I was the 5th runner so my legs were 5, 14, 23 and 32.

First Leg (#5)

I ran this same leg last year and was determined to run better this year which I did.  I ran almost 2 minutes faster.  This leg started with a downhill that flattened out and then finished with a short but steep uphill.  It went through the towns of Jefferson and West Jefferson.  At one point on this run I saw a dump truck coming at me and heard a car coming from behind me so I felt it was safer to run in the ditch.  Just as I hopped in the ditch I realized there was some kind of decomposing animal just ahead of me.  I immediately hopped over it but couldn't avoid the smell.  It was not pleasant.

The leg was listed at 5.2 miles but for the second year in a row my Garmin measured it at 4.8 miles.  I finished the leg in 36:26 for a 7:39 pace.   My projected pace was 7:45 so I was just under it.

Second Leg (#14)

My next leg was also the scariest for me.  I don't like running up hills much less mountains.  This leg was 10 miles up Grandfather Mountain.  While the leg was very hard it was somewhat enjoyable for me.  I didn't like the climbing but for just about every climb there was a small downhill that allowed me to recover before the next climb.  It was already dark when this run started so I had to wear all the proper gear (headlamp, reflective vest and 3 blinky lights).  What I liked most about this run was the cool breeze, the occasional sound of streams flowing and the peacefulness of nighttime.  What I didn't like about this run was that I was passed by 5 runners who blew by me with what appeared little effort.  I also didn't like that I missed my projected time.  I finished the leg in 1:27:21 for an 8:48 pace well above my projected pace of 8:00.

Third Leg (#23)

Like my second leg, my third leg was also at night.  It started at 3am.  I was warned about this leg by my teammates who had previously run it.  It was nicknamed the "Deliverance" leg.  The run started on a paved road from a small school but quickly turned onto a narrow wooden bridge that looked like a private driveway and from there onto a very small and winding dirt road.  In the past at this point it would be very foggy making it hard to see.  Even more is that vans travelling the road would kick up a lot of dust.  As recommended I brought an extra flashlight.  It turns out I didn't need it because it was a clear night and there was virtually no dust due to recent rains that had hit the area.

I really enjoyed this run.  Like the Grandfather Mountain leg it breezy and I could hear the stream flowing.  For about 20 minutes of the run I could also hear a train moving in the valley.  At one point as I rounded a curve I could see the mountains in the distance blanketed with a sheet of fog in the moonlight.  I saw no runners on this run.  I was running all alone and it was very enjoyable.

The run started with a big downhill for about 2 miles and finished with a steady uphill for the final 3 miles.  The run by itself wasn't too bad but after climbing for 10 miles on the previous leg the 3 mile climb at the end was tough.  After these 2 legs I'd done a half marathon of climbing.

My time for the leg was 49:02 for an 8:37 pace.  My projected pace was 7:45 so I was way over it.

Fourth Leg (#32)

My fourth and final leg was supposed to be a very hard leg (at least that was what it was rated).  I found it to be my "easiest" of the race.  It was a 9 mile downhill bomb that descended over 2000 feet.  Since I wear my Garmin I know where I am at and how much farther I have to go...when I know how far I am supposed to go.  For this run I thought it was 9 miles even.  It turns out that it was 9.4 miles.  When I was around 8.5 miles I was trying to pick it up to finish strong.  I reached mile 9 and saw no signs indicating the exchange zone was coming.  Then I started to worry that I missed a turn.  I kept going and eventually saw the signs and the finish.

My time for the leg was 1:07:11 for a 7:10 pace.  My projected pace was 7:45 which I beat.  Of my 4 legs I beat the projection twice and missed it twice.  Not too shabby.

I was passed by 5 people on the Grandfather Mountain leg however I passed 6 people to make up for it on this leg.

My total distance for the race was 29.76 miles.   There was no mention of sleep above because I didn't get any.  I may have dozed for 20 minutes at some point but that was about it.

Like last year I met a lot of great people during this race and enjoyed participating with all of my teammates. In general running is an individual activity but for this race it is a team event.  You are all packed in a van, moving from exchange to exchange and cheering each other (and other teams) on for the race.  It is hard but having a team makes it much easier.  It's definitely a rewarding experience for me.  I look forward to doing it again (except for running up Grandfather Mountain).

Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the race:

Loading the van on Thursday for the drive to Boone

Breakfast at the hotel before heading to the starting line

Meghan and Carrie decorating the van

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 2's van

Mark hands off to Tristan on an early stage

Finishing my first leg (#5)

Both teams waiting for our runners to come by to cheer them on

Angie on team 1 gets to run through a tunnel

Hanging out at an exchange zone
 (Doug, Melissa, Angie, Meghan, Kelli and Kelsey)

Kelli in her pre-run warm-ups

Waiting at the Tanger Outlet exchange zone in Blowing Rock
(Melissa, Matt, Driver Matt, Tristan, Devin and Ben)

Tristan waiting to start his leg with Matt

Driver Matt didn't do a lot of driving so we made him run...1 mile at 11% grade.

Waiting at exchange zone 35
(Karen, Mark, Matt, Ryan, Driver Matt, Mike, Brian and Tristan)

Finished!
(Mark, Tristan, Ben, Ryan, Devin, Matt, Karen, Brian and Mike)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Tristan, Kelsey, Doug, Kelli, Jeff and Matt)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Driver Matt, Devin, Patience?, Ben)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Brian, Mark, Karen, Mike)

Post-race beer and pizza at Mellow Mushroom
(Ryan's empty seat, Carrie, Angie, Meghan, Dan, Melissa)

Mike crossing of his final leg

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 1 - All legs complete

RUNNINGJUSTASFASTASWECAN 2 - All legs complete

Post-race at the hotel
(Matt, Driver Matt, Devin, Melissa, Dan, Jeff, Mark, Tristan, Angie and Meghan)

Morning after breakfast at Cracker Barrel
(Carrie, Kelsey, Kelli, Meghan, Dan, Melissa, Ryan, Angie,
Mark, Tristan, Driver Matt, Matt, Jeff, Brian and Doug)

Backyard Patio - 13 Years in the (Decision) Making

A while back I hinted on Facebook that we were thinking of building a patio.  In reality we've been thinking of building a patio for the past 13 years (time really does fly).  Last year we had a screened porch built (by JStar Construction Inc. - give them a call!).  After looking at the dismal state of our grass next to our nice screened porch we decided to act.  The 20% off sale at Lowes helped too. 

So the first order of business was to put the kids to work. They worked really hard and did a fine job...for the 5-10 minutes that they "helped".

Over a couple of weeks the area for the deck was excavated to a depth of 7" (4" for gravel base, 1" for sand and 2" for the pavers).

We also picked out the pavers and decided to go with a design they call "K pattern".

This coming weekend will be the fun part.  On Friday we are renting a plate compactor and having 5 cubic yards of ABC stone (crush and run) delivered.  We'll use the plate compactor on the clay on either Friday night or Saturday morning and then spend all day Sunday hauling gravel to the patio area.  Since we can't have them dump the gravel near the patio area we'll have to haul it there using a wheel barrow.  Once it's all spread and leveled we'll use the plate compactor again on it.

Assuming we survive the weekend, sometime in the next few weeks we'll have sand delivered, build retaining walls on some edges and lay the pavers.

To be continued...

Historic Flood of 2011?

I grew up in southern Louisiana and always knew about the levees, however, I never really understood what they were for until recently.  As has been detailed in the news many communities along the Mississippi River have been experiencing serious and devastating flooding.  That flooding is moving south towards Louisiana.  The Mississippi River is swelling and threatening to overflow its banks in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans and as a result could destroy many of the homes and businesses.  That's where the levees come in.

Years ago the Army Corps of Engineers built a series of control structures to help ease the burden of flooding presented by the Mississippi River.  There are 3 main structures which when opened help divert water out of the Mississippi River and into other areas.  The first 2 structures, Old River Control Structure and Morganza Spillway, allow water to flow into the Atchafalaya Basin.  The 3rd structure, Bonnet Carre Spillway, is located near New Orleans and allows water to flow into the Lake Pontchartrain.  If water is allowed to flow in the Atchafalaya Basin it will flood many farms and possibly some communities.  The water won't just flow anywhere though.  It will flow towards the Gulf of Mexico and the levees help it to stay in line on its way without spreading out to other communities.  The levees are parallel to each other forming a wall to keep the water in on its way south.

It's possible that as early as tomorrow afternoon (Saturday, May 14th) the Morganza Spillway will be opened allowing the water to flood into the basin.  This will cause the people of the area to sacrifice their land to save those in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and areas in between.   No matter what happens though this flood appears to be of historic proportions.

I feel for the people in these areas that will be flooded and for those that have been flooded already.  One thing natural disasters like this reminds us of is that nature can't always be tamed.  The Mighty Mississippi will ultimately do what she wants.  Much like the constantly shifting sands of the Outer Banks in North Carolina.

I found the following blog entry titled "High Water" very helpful in visualizing how the control structures work and where they are located:
http://www.workingdefinition.com/2011/05/06/high-water

Baseball Begins

The boys have played soccer for several years and other than a season of trying out basketball for Andrew that has been about it for sports.  Late last year Alex decided he wanted to play baseball so we encouraged him to join a team.  He agreed and we signed him up for a league in our town.  Tonight was his team's first game and they did really well.  I think the other team scored a few more runs but overall both teams were competitive.

Alex was able to bat in 3 of the 5 innings that he played.  He hit the ball into play in his first 2 at bats (1 for a hit) and struck out in his 3rd at bat.  He probably would have had a hit in his first at bat had he started running after he hit the ball.  It was his first at bat ever.  After hitting the ball he stood there watching it until he heard the coaches yelling at him to run.  He barely missed making it to first before the ball got there.

I liked how his coach did the defensive assignments.  Each time his team went out into the field to play defense the coach moved the players to different positions.  As a result, Alex was able to play left field, short stop and right field (twice).  I heard one of his coaches tell him next week that he'll get to play catcher which he is excited about.  In all I think Alex had about 8 balls hit his way and only 1 or 2 made it past him (pretty good average for his age group).

Alex had a lot of fun and did really well.  I was proud of his play and happy to see him enjoy the game.

OBX Camping Trip

This past weekend the whole family went camping.  The boys and I have camped several times but this was one of the few times that the whole family has gone together.  We went with the boys' Cub Scout pack and stayed at Camp Immanuel (owned by Liberty Christian Fellowship).

We didn't get to the outer banks until 8pm which meant pitching a tent in the dark (This is pretty normal for our family who does everything at the last minute.).  Shortly after arriving at the campground the cubmaster gave announcements detailing the general rules and info.  He also told us that lights go out at 9:30pm and the time is non-negotiable (camp rules).  I can't remember the last time I went to sleep by 9:30 but after the long drive I was ready.

In the morning we woke up early (6:30 am) only to find out that a number of people had woken up even earlier than us and had used all of the hot water in the bathhouse!  Since it was somewhere between 50 and 60 degrees a cold shower was not very pleasant.  We ate breakfast at 7:30 am, cleaned up and then headed out for the day's activities.

The first place we visited was the United States Coast Guard Station at Oregon Inlet.  This was really a great place to visit.  We were first shown a video of what the Coast Guard is and what they do.  The video showed things like boats and helicopters performing rescues in rough seas.  Cool stuff to the boys.  They also described how the Coast Guard changed as a result of 9/11 (such as becoming a part of the Department of Homeland Security).  After the video we were given a tour of the station.  One of the more interesting parts (probably for the adults) was the control room.  They described what the person on duty does, what they track and document on their control board and what happens when a call comes in.

After we left the control room we went outside and the boys were allowed to climb in 2 of the boats.  I think this was the part they liked the most.  The visit to the Coast Guard station went a little faster than expected and ended at 10:30 am.

After the Coast Guard station everyone was on their own for lunch.  Since it was still early a number of us decided to visit Bodie Island Lighthouse which was on the way back from the Coast Guard station.  Earlier in the year the lighthouse was being restored however during renovations it was discovered that the lighthouse had more damage than previously known about.  They weren't able to get enough funds to cover the additional work so the restoration work was stopped.  The scaffolding was removed so we could see the lighthouse but the lens was not replaced.  Around the lens room was what looked like a black cloth of some sort.  We spent about 30 minutes at the lighthouse and then left for lunch.

We had planned to eat lunch with several other families but got separated from then after stopping for gas.  The last several times that we have visited the outer banks we have eaten at a restaurant called MexiCali Brewz.  We were disappointed to find that it didn't open until 2:30 pm.  Moving on we found a Dairy Queen where we stopped an ate.

The plan for the afternoon was to meet at the Wright Brothers National Memorial by 1pm.  We made it there just in time.  For the most part we were on our own here.  The 1pm meeting time was really just to get everyone there.  After taking a group picture we separated to visit the memorial.  We started by going into the visitor center and letting the boys participate in the Junior Ranger program.  After they finished their questionnaires and we listed to the program, we went outside to visit the area where the first flight took place.

Andrew decided he could run faster than the first flight so I timed him.  He beat the first flight, second flight and third flight (just barely).

Olivia tried as well but was not as successful.  Since we had been to the memorial on a previous trip to the outer banks, we decided to skip some of the areas and go to Jockey's Ridge State Park.

Jockey's Ridge is one of our favorite parks to visit.  There are huge sand dunes that just go on and on.  We brought our kites and flew them for a while.  We also ran and jumped down the sand hills for a while.  It was good fun but tiring.  We didn't get to stay as late as we would have liked because Aimee was on duty for dinner and had to be back at the campsite by 5pm.

We made it back a little after 5pm and Aimee went to help with dinner.  I watched the kids until dinner time.  After dinner we had dutch oven desserts around a campfire.  Several of the scouts told jokes until it was time for story of the night.  One of the parents usually tells stories at scout events.  This time he told us a story about how everything disappears at the outer banks.  After the story our cubmaster told us bedtime was at 9pm tonight.  The previous night not all lights went out by 9:30 so he was moving it up some.  It was a busy, tiring day.  Nobody was complaining.

Even though everyone was tired and went to sleep easily, they didn't stay asleep.  I don't know what the temperature was but it got a bit colder than anyone expected, including our family.  We under-packed for the weather and as a result everyone was cold.  I got the boys up extra early (6 am) to make sure we could get some hot water.  After a cold night it was nice to have a hot shower.  That is until you had to get out of the shower.

I was on breakfast duty so the boys played while I went to work.  I was a pancake cook along with another of the dads.  After breakfast our cubmaster held a brief worship service and declared us free to go.  Since I was also on dish duty I stayed to help clean and then pack the dishes.  Once that was done I went back to the tent where we packed up all of our stuff and then left.

We had discussed maybe driving down to Cape Hatteras then to Ocracoke (via ferry) and back to the mainland (via another ferry) but decided we didn't have enough time to do that.  We also considered driving up to see Currituck Beach Lighthouse but nixed that idea after seeing that we'd have to drive back to near where we were just to go home.  We finally decided to visit the beach for a while since we were so close.  We found a public parking area, parked and went out onto the beach.   We brought an Aerobie Pro disk I received for my birthday and had a lot of fun throwing it until we accidentally threw it into the water and couldn't find it.  Uh oh.

We stayed at the beach for about an hour and started our journey home.

Andrew asked if we could stop in Manteo to see the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse which we agreed to.  We enjoy walking on the riverfront there and figured we could stop for lunch too.

After visiting the lighthouse and letting the kids play on a nearby playground we went to Poor Richards Sandwich Shop.  The food was good but a bit expensive.

After lunch we got in the car and started driving home.  An hour or so later as we were nearing Plymouth I noticed a billboard advertising the Plymouth waterfront that included a picture of a screwpile lighthouse.  I didn't know there was a lighthouse here and decided to find it.  We soon found the waterfront and the lighthouse, the Roanoke River Lighthouse replica. On the way we had to pass near a Civil War reenactment which involved some pretty loud cannon fire on the river.  Since Andrew didn't know this lighthouse existed he was still very excited.  The town of Plymouth seemed like an old small town with a lot of history.  We visited the lighthouse for a few minutes and then headed home.