Bynum -- Hurricane Irma -- Update

I realize that this blog was originally started as a running blog to update anyone and everyone who was interested in knowing more about my progress with the 50 half marathons in 50 states in 50 months goal that I have set for myself.... BUT... there appears to be a little storm brewing out in the Atlantic and there are several family and friends who are interested to know what is happening down here in Florida.  So, this particular blog I will use to update whoever cares what's happening from my limited perspective.

I will keep it chronological, so you don't have to read the whole thing.  Just scroll down to the time that you are interested in and read from there.

Saturday, September 9, 2:25pm 

I just got back from a run.  The weather is really nice, although there was a bit of a headwind on the run back.  So, I ran 4 miles out, then did interval sprints heading East into the wind.   Ran 5 intervals, walking in between, then jogged back almost a mile.  Almost 7 miles total.  Here is the current weather conditions in Valrico Florida.  Just East of Tampa.



So far today I have driven to the lake house in Winter Haven and moved everything off the patio into the house.  We will likely lose the screen, but I did not want any of our patio furniture flying through the air into the neighbors house.  Just about all of the neighbors there are staying around.  They have stayed for all of the storms since they have lived there.  They intend to watch out for our house since we will not be there.

Valerie and Keeley have moved all of the movable stuff out of our yard here at our house in Valrico and moved it all into the garage.  We have taken important papers and money and some clothing, etc. and placed it into vacuum sealed bags just in case we take on water.  (BTW.  It appears as if the story of putting your valuables in the dishwasher for safe keeping from the water is not an accurate story.   I hope we don't have to test it.)  We have removed all of the pictures off the walls in case they were to get knocked off.  It only took a few minutes and would potentially save us from having to clean up broken glass.  It looks like we are moving.  Where is that moving truck anyway?



The boys are busy playing in the yard and swimming in the neighbor's pool.




We have plenty of food and plenty of water, frozen and unfrozen.  All of our devices are charged up.  We have flashlights and batteries and candles and propane and a gas grill.  5 or six of our immediate neighbors have a generator and have told us that we could use their refrigerator or whatever we need if we need.

We have had multiple friends offer to help us if we are in a worse position than they find themselves and vise versa.

My mom has invited us over to her house on the other coast.  I am pretty sure she is not happy with me for not accepting her invitation.

I have my office three miles away that has everything we might need and could function as a house in the event that this one and the lake house are inoperable.

3:00 pm Sat.  Sept. 9


The latest track of hurricane Irma shows her pushing further and further West.  Generally speaking about a hurricane in the Atlantic, we would pray that it push off to the East so it does not impact anyone.... and it often does just that.  This one appears to want to keep pushing West, which puts those of us on the West side of Florida at risk.  If there is any good news for us, it would be that the storm has downgraded to Category 3 -- for now. -- and could potentially continue to push West and miss Florida all together.  The downside to that is the potential for damage to the panhandle and/or Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, etc.

Please keep in mind that what you see on the news is not what is happening right now in the state of Florida.  There is certainly danger, but that danger would not be until Sunday evening or so.  I will keep you updated here.  Right now we are making sure that we are prepared, but we are not freaking out.  There will most certainly be wind and wetness.  There could be flooding and we might lose some possessions.  We are about 40 miles inland from the coast.  We are NOT in a flood zone.  We are NOT in a mandatory evacuation zone.  We are NOT being stupid or unsafe.  We are NOT worried about our possessions.  We have taken precautions and we have decided to stay home and see what happens and deal with it when it does.  The children are well aware of what is happening and they are in NO danger.  We have a few safe places in our home, near the center,  that have no windows and nothing that could fly around and hurt someone.  No one is looting, not even us, lol.  Valerie is planning some hamburgers on the grill for dinner this evening.  I'm hungry... and tired.

Stay tuned if you are interested.  We love you all and thank you for your concern and support and prayers and offers.

4:15pm
The extreme outer bands have reached the area.  Light winds only.  A little cloudy.  We are expecting rain soon.


7:40 pm
Very light winds.  Darker than normal because of the clouds.  A couple of small rain drops, but nothing really.  I would not even take an umbrella if I were going out.  In fact, Valerie and I went out to a friend's house and had a nice prayer meeting a few minutes ago and the windshield wipers did not even come on.  The forecast looks like it is still pushing West a bit and moving slower than they anticipated.  Still downgraded to Cat 3.  Looks like it is not forecasted to be over us until 2:00 am Monday morning.  I guess I will not be working on Monday and possibly Tuesday either. (Is it possible that this storm was created and planned by my employees in an effort to get a vacation???... hmmm....)


10:00 pm Saturday

Still pretty much the same.  It appears that the storm slowed a bit over Cuba and decreased in intensity all the while heading West.  The latest track shows much of the same as the above.  The satellite image shows that Irma has started to turn slightly to the North as predicted.  So, it looks like the previous projections are proving accurate.  I am waiting for the 11:00 pm advisory, then off to bed.  The weather outside is calm and normal.  You wold never know we were about to get 100+ mph wind gusts.  The air-condition is working hard keeping us cool.  I am not looking forward to the power going out and losing the A/C.  Not sure I will make it till 11:00.  I may get to bed and get a good rest. -- Well, now that I think about it, I am watching football, so I'll probably stay up for a while.

11:22 pm Saturday

The 11:00 advisory shows that Irma did begin to move NorthWest.  But continued to move West.  This report also suggests a decrease in the storm intensity to Cat 3.  Currently the forecast shows the storm hitting land in roughly the same spot, around late Sunday evening, but kind of brushing the West coast of Florida and at something lower/smaller than Cat 3 -- winds around 110 mph (much better).   Potentially she continues West and the worst of the storm happens out in the Gulf and affects no one.  The european model is the next advisory and it does not come out until 2:00am.  I am certain that I will not stay up for that.  I'll sleep soundly knowing that God is in control.  We will see what she looks like in the morning.  Good night all. Thanks for your prayers.

6:49 am Sunday, Sept.10

Good morning.  We got a good night's sleep last night.  It rained, but that is not atypical and it was a typical type of a rain.  No significant wind noticed.  Just some rain. This is the view out my front door.  Looks like a normal day after a night of rain.  Not uncommon. (Noble mowed the yard Friday, so it still looks good.)  I'll take a contrasting picture after the storm, but before I make him go back out there and clean up the debris, lol.)



Irma appears to have begun her expected trip up to the North.  Over night her path appears to have been straight North.  The 6:00 am advisory shows her expected path to be brushing the West coast of Florida and on land in our area somewhere around 2:00am Monday.



I am praying for anyone still in the Florida Keys and for those who have left their homes.  Some models have her at Cat 4 and others have her at Cat 3 at the moment... a big storm either way and will leave a lot of damage in her wake in Key West.

We are safe and in good shape -- for the moment.  The kids and Valerie are still sleeping.  Now it is time for some God time and start my day.  I'll keep you updated.

8:34 am Sunday

I just had to check my pulse because I thought I might be dead.  Watching the news, it appears as if I am dead or dying.  The good news, or bad news depending on who you are, is I am NOT dead.  I DO have a pulse, and my roof is still on my house.  I find that I can only watch the news in short bursts.  I am not at all nervous.  At least not until I hear all of the doomsday reporting.

There is a rain band over the area at the moment.  Light rain, light wind.  We are NOT in danger.  We are NOT running scared.  Keeley is still sleeping soundly.  We have power and Valerie is making waffles. (I had leftover Chinese food for breakfast :)~ ).

Our plans for today are to relax and spend some time together as a family, enjoying each other's company.  We will play some board games, watch some animated movies, tell some stories.  Our big plans for the day as it relates to planning for the storm is to make sure that we have everything prepared for the eventual and inevitable loss of power.  We WILL lose power.  When and for how long are the only variables.

Church is cancelled today.  I will update when there is anything different to report. -- or maybe sooner as I might get bored.  OK... probably sooner.  Chances are I will not run today.  Maybe I will "run" on the elliptical.   Oooh, that's a good idea.  Hope you all have a great day!!

11:29am

Just like a woman, this storm is being a little stubborn and a little unpredictable. (yes ladies, you could substitute "man" in that last sentence for "woman".  That would be OK).  Irma has move East a bit and then straight North.  It appears if she will make contact Florida south of the Naples area.  If this is the case, then it will be devastating for them, and will likely weaken the storm significantly for us.  

I read earlier that this period of waiting on Irma is like waiting for your father to come home to give you a beating and the media is like your mother threatening you saying, "You wait till your father gets home!"

We are experiencing rain.  It has been raining steadily for 3-4 hours now.  There are some wind gusts about 30mph, but not sustained winds.  Mostly it is just a bit breezy and rainy. We still have power and water and no trees down at the moment.  Irma is currently listed at a Cat 4, but expected to weaken again to Cat3 once it makes land fall and then weaken significantly from there.  If the current projected path remains constant, that would put the eye on our East side and this would give us southern winds instead of northern winds, which they say will be MUCH better for us.  We are praying for the First Responders who are willingly placing themselves in harms way and their families.  We are also praying for those in and from the Naples and Marco Island areas.

Keeley is still sleeping.

Time to prepare for lunch:


12:45 pm Sunday

Nothing new to report -- but it is a party in the driveway.


3:35 pm Sunday

Keeley woke up in time for lunch.

Good news/bad news -- really just depends on your perspective.  Irma has not yet hit land in Florida... but is due to make landfall right about Naples/Marco Island within an hour.  She is currently pushing winds of 120mph.  That is a weak Cat 3.  When it hits land, it will weaken further.  They are suggesting that it will continue north on land toward Tampa, but it will be weakening all the way, so it may be at Cat 1 by the time it gets here.  She has tracked straight North for several hours.  So, they are fairly confident in the projected path.  The next official track will come out at 5:00pm.

I tried to workout on the elliptical.  I rode it for 30 min on its highest speed, but I did not feel like I got enough of a workout, so I decided to go for a run.  I ran a little 5k around the neighborhood.  It is like a ghost town out there.  I saw maybe twelve cars, and I ran on the major highway in our town.  All of the stores were closed and it was raining with a light wind.  A little spooky without anyone around.  For a minute, I started to wonder if I got "left behind".  I ran down one road and there was a large tree down in the middle of the road and one of the homeowners got out his big utility truck and some chains and tried to pull the tree off the road.  I stopped and helped him tie the chains around the tree and to the trailer hitch.  He almost had it off the road when another homeowner came running out barefooted, bald with a rain coat and a beer and began screaming obscenities at this man.  The best I could tell through all of the cuss words, the bald guy was expressing his concern that the good citizen would "mess" up and pull down the power line and bleep, bleep, bleeping, bleep, bleep.  Of course, the good citizen screamed back to the bald guy something about bleeping, bleep, with live bleeping power every bleeping day.  It got fairly heated and they were not happy with each other and were getting very close to each other.  I restarted my watch and ran the rest of the way home.  I think they both had everyone's best interests at heart, but unable to communicate effectively with each other.  Sad, but I did not want to be a part of it.  I hope they got it worked out.  I did see a TECO truck headed that way, not sure if they were called to the scene or not.  I hope they worked it out.

Wind is starting to pick up.  We just heard a tree break behind our house, but we did not hear it land.

We were just informed that the sewage lift station in our neighborhood has already failed and we are asked to limit our usage of the facilities.  Awesome.  Oh well, I guess I'll shower outside.  More later if I am able. still have power, still have water, still have a pulse. -- and faith!

6:27pm Sunday

We are starting to "feel" the effects of the storm.  The wind is picking up and the rain is steady.  Trees are starting to fall and break branches.



The retention pond in the back is starting to take on water.
We expect to lose power any time now as a tree or branch will likely fall and take out a power line.
The kids are getting cleaned up and ready for bed.  We have all had a hot meal and are prepared to be without power for as long as it takes.  The latest advisory still shows Tampa in the target of the middle of this storm, but the winds are slowing.  We are expecting a Cat 1.

Just heard another tree branch fall in the back yard.

All of our devices are charged up to 100%.  I will keep you updated if and when I am able.  Ready for some board games.

7:26 pm

Looks like she still want to aim right for us, but she is slowing down.  Currently a Cat 2.  Still projecting a Cat 1 by the time it gets to Tampa.  Wind is continuing to pick up.  Power has flickered off and back on several times.  We imagine it will be soon when we lose power all together.  

The forecast is that we will not be sleeping much tonight.  Trees and branches continuing to crack and break and fall.  BTW... IF I NEVER HEAR THE WORDS HUNKER DOWN AGAIN, IT WILL BE TOO SOON!

9:00 pm Sunday



Amazingly we still have power and internet and water and cell service.  Lots of rain.  More and more wind.  Tree branches are cracking and falling all around us, but so far there does not appear to be any damage.  The storm is just south of us right now and headed this way.  But, as you can see from the graphic above, the wind speeds are still decreasing.  We are expecting 70-85 mph winds when it gets here -- which should be around 2:00 am.  wind speeds are about 40-45mph right now.  All of the rain is enough to take down the tree branches and even some trees.  Add in some heavy and sustained winds, and the trees, if not just the branches come down around us.  So far so good though.

Kids are playing games and we are just chillin.  God is good! and we are doing great.  Might be a rough night, but it looks like we are going to be way better off than anyone thought.  This was close to being catastrophic.  Thankful that this will be minimal.  Praying for those in and from the Naples area and all of those affected by flooding in the Miami area.

I am hoping for a restful nights sleep.  Hoping that we are not woken by a tree in the house or anything like that.

10:10 pm

Still have power, somehow.  Winds are picking up.  we are seeing sustained 40 mph and gusts up to 50-60.  I am guessing a little and following along with the abc live feed.  Storm is still heading North and moving faster, but wind speeds are still decreasing.  Also storm has continued directly north, so the center appears as if it might pass by us a little to the east.  Still expecting 70-85mph sustained winds somewhere 12:00-2:00 am.

My concern is what will happen after the storm passes.  Sounds weird, I know, but what happened in Naples may happen here as well.  The storm sucked out all of the water and when the storm passed it pushed all the water back in and the storm surge as well, which flooded Naples.  Naples, FL (164 miles south of here) -- below -- appears to be flooded pretty good.


The same thing MAY happen here.  Earlier today they showed pictures of Tampa Bay.  People were walking on the bay.  The water used to be there... but the storm sucked it out.  People were walking out what looked like more than a couple hundred yards.  Normally they would be under water.

So, when the storm passes and the storm surge comes back in with all of that water.  I wonder if we will have some problems.  As I mentioned, we are about 40 miles from the coast, but closer to the bay.  I am guessing about 20 miles east of the bay.  Either way, there may be a bunch of flooding in the Tampa area... same as in Naples.  Also, there was apparently a great deal of flooding in Miami too.  This could be a problem for us.  Not sure how it will play out.  I'll update you tomorrow if I can.  Pray for no flooding.  Thanks!!!

1:00 am Monday, Sept. 11

It appears as if we have weathered the worst of the storm.  The storm is just passed us to the north.  It passed by us with winds of 100-110 -- a Cat 2.  The reports suggest that we sustained wind gusts of 85mph.  It was certainly windy.  Trees were cracking and branches falling, but as far as we can tell nothing has damaged the house.  I have not been to my office, but our house seems to be fine at the moment.  I will report what I find in the  morning.

Winter Haven is reported have taken the highest winds in our area -- of course that is where the lake house is.  I suppose I will drive over there tomorrow and check out the damage.  Oh well.  The family is safe and the winds have died down.  The kids are now sleeping and all appears to be well.  There is still some concern about flooding with the storm surge.  Hoping and praying that we do not have the significant flooding like Naples and Miami.

We have maintained power the entire time.  Valerie just told me that the lamp post outside our front door is missing... gone... weird.  We were spared the major damage.  So thankful as many, myself included thought this was going to be much worse.  Praise God.

Still praying for others who were affected more than us.

5:10 am Monday

Managed to get a few hours sleep.  Something woke me, but everyone else is still sleeping.  The house is fine.  It is still very windy.  The back side of the storm is still affecting us.  I have no idea if there is any further damage at this moment, but I think we fared very well and we are extremely thankful that we were spared here.  Valerie and the kids are safe and comfortable, in their own beds.    We still have power.  The flooding that I was concerned about does not appear to be a major issue yet, but the news is suggesting that there may still be some flooding.

This morning I will go check on the neighbors and my office and the lake house.  Winter Haven apparently took a beating. THINGS can be replaced.  We are not at all concerned.  Just thankful we are all safe.  Thank God!!

8:45 am Monday

I went out to the office to check on the status there.  It took me a while longer than usual to get there as I had to change roads multiple times because there are trees down over the roads everywhere.  I saw no less than ten trees down and laying on the road.  Many of them had taken the power lines with them.  Miraculously the office is fine.  The power is off because of the downed trees, but otherwise in fine shape -- which is good because last year I remember the same scenario.  It cost me about $15,000 in tree removal alone.  Not so bad this year.

We have little trees down in the yard here at the house and the lamp post is not gone.  It did not disappear,  but it did fall over.  We will have some clean up to do , but nothing structural.

There are a few houses in the neighborhood that have trees fallen on them.  No one appears injured, just some minor house damage.

We are headed over to the lake to see what kind of damage is there.  I don't think we will fare so well there, but we will see.

It is still windy and some heavy gusts, but Irma has passed us and we are confident this is the worst of the damage.  Here is a picture of the back yard at the moment.  Could definitely have been worse!!

Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

We are going to start the clean up now.

God bless you.  Have a great day.

Mesa Falls Half Martahon

Ashton, Idaho -- Mesa Falls Half Marathon

Race recap for state #11 -- Idaho.  This race was August 26, 2017.  I decided to wait for the photos before I posted the race recap... then I was out of town.  I am certain that ALL of you have been anxiously and impatiently waiting.  Sorry for the delay.

Registration:

This race was registered through Athlinks... another membership that means nothing to me, does nothing for me, for which I will never remember my password, but really does not bother me too much.  In the end, they had a problem with the membership registration so I don't have a membership after all, but the race registration was successful.... interesting... whatever.

 Fee:

This one was also pretty cheap, in comparison.  I did get a discount, as you can see for being a member of the 50 States Half Marathon Club.

The Expo:

There was no expo.  The pre-race packet pick-up was at the local elementary school.  It was really cute.  There was one hallway with classrooms on either side, then the cafeteria and the restrooms and more classrooms.  Possibly 10 classrooms in total.  In the hallway was the registration desk.  One nice young man pulled up my name on the computer and gave me my packet.

The race packet was a potato sack with all the "stuff" in it.  A nutrigrain bar, a lube stick, some electrolyte gums, the bib, the shirt, a breakfast ticket, a dinner ticket and some coupons.  It was cute.

Shirt:

The shirt was a long-sleeved wicking, tech shirt.

Race Day:

The race was Saturday, but the Half did not start until 8:30 am.  The race organizer suggested that the course was so pretty, they did not want to ruin the scenery with darkness, so they started well after sunrise... the weather was nice, but warmer than it would have been if we had started at the typical 6:30-7:00am timeframe.  The weather was about 10F higher than what my iphone weather showed that it would be.
 
Never the less, it was cooler than the 90Fplus we were having at home.

Race Start Time:

I guess I have covered that already.... but we started right on time at 8:30 and it was still about 60F.

Course Map:

The course started up un the mountains at about 6500 ft.  The first 4.3 miles was downhill and on a trail.  The start was actually in the parking lot of a state park. We had to run once around the paring lot, then down a tunnel under the road and on the trail down the mountain.

Accommodations:

I stayed across the street from the elementary school, which was good, because this is where all the action was.  There was the packet pick-up, there was the pre-race spaghetti dinner, the pre-race breakfast, and the bus pick-up.
The "hotel" was the Rankin Motel.  Valerie saw the pictures twice and BOTH times she said, "Oh, it is cute.  It reminds me of West Virginia.'  Verbatim... both times.

BTW.  As I am in my room after the race recovering.  Still wearing my race shirt with the bib on it.  Some 20-25 year old girl enters my room and with her back to me looks around, then turns to me, notices I am sitting there and she says, "I am looking for my keys."  I said, "Well, I have MY room key." and I pointed to my key on the night stand.  She looks over at it and says, "Oh... OK."  and walks out.  I never saw her again.  I was on the phone with Valerie -- actually we were Facetiming.  it was weird, but we got a good laugh.

Transportation:

I rented a car from the airport in Idaho Falls and drove to Ashton, about 40 min. through the fields.  The transportation from the elementary school to the race start was by bus.  They rented 3 buses that carried all of us to the start.

Weather:

I guess I already covered the weather also.  Suffice it to say, it was nice.

Race Morning:

Race morning consisted of walking over to the elementary school and having breakfast in the cafeteria.  The people were very sweet.  The whole thing was just quaint and nice.

Race:

This was a smaller race and very low key.  It was the tail end of the full marathon.  The marathon started at 7:00am and the half started at the half way point at 8:30.  I saw 3 or 4 runners from the marathon start down the trail before we got started.  That makes them pretty speedy in my book to have run 13 miles in under 1:30, only to have another 13 miles to go.  ...Phew...  that makes me tired just typing it.

Water/Food Stations:

There were plenty of water and nutrition stations.  Every 2-3 miles.  They had fruit and water and Gatoraide or was it Poweraid?  and Gu packs.  There was even one "station" that was manned by a young boy about 9 years old who was filling Dixie cups with his own bottled water.  He was sweet.  He even turned his sprinkler from his farm on the road, so the runners could get a quick cool down.  I definitely stopped at his station, which was about mile 10.  ~Yeah, that's why I stopped!! ... for the kid!!

Scenery:

The scenery was nice, especially as we ran by the water.

Race Entertainment:

There really was no entertainment.  There were a few people hanging out on the side of the road who were clearly there to cheer on someone specific, but none of them were there for me... so, I just listened to my music and tried to zone out.

Finish:

The finish was pretty simple.  It looked much like the start, only 13.1 miles away from the start.  There were a few dozen people there cheering the runners on to the finish.  They had chocolate milk and fruit and water and Gatoraide and several kinds of pizza.

Bling:

The Medal was a tiny little circle of wood with the race logo stamped ~~ or burned into it.  I will say it is unique.

Misc:

This was technically a down hill race.  The race started at 6500ft and went downhill to about 5300 ft over a period of 4.3 miles on a trail.  I was cruising.  I was running 7:45-8:00 per mile.  I was feeling good and thought I was back on track.  Then we got out on the pavement  and promptly went uphill for 2.5 miles.. back up to 6500ft.  The same elevation gain over 2.5 miles as the previous elevation loss over 4.3 miles.  I was dying.  People started passing me.  I started sweating and breathing heavy and becoming heavy footed.  I apparently don't like hills, and they apparently don't like me.  Then it was downhill, uphill, downhill, uphill... which of course at that point felt like uphill, uphill, uphill, uphill.

I did OK. I finished 1:58... right at 9:00 per mile average.  Not great, but not terrible for me.  If not for the hills, I would have done much better.

The trail portion of the course was nice and scenic.  The rest of the race was through the fields and all I saw was mowed farm land, silos, pavement... and the back sides of several people passing me up a hill.

In all it was a quaint little race.  The race organizers really did do everything they could to take good care of the racers.  They truly seemed to want to make it a good race experience for everyone.  I even received a free huckleberry milkshake. 

Holy Cadence Batman

As I was fishing through the mind numbing political posts on social media, I came across an advertisement for a product for runners.  (Does anyone else find it a bit creepy that these companies are "watching"us? -- or is it just me?)  Anyway, it seems that many of the ads that I see on social media are about fitness, over 40, and dentistry.  This particular product caught my eye and I decided to have a closer look.  It is call Lumo Run from Lumo BodyTech.  

It is a a simple little device that hooks to your shorts, aligned with your spine and connects to your phone bluetooth.  When you run, it analyzes your running form, stride, speed, cadence, running posture, braking, bounce, pelvic rotation, pelvic drop, distance, etc... and offers audio feedback and detailed reports to help one to improve their running form. 

I looked it up on Amazon to see how much it cost.  It was $100.  Dang this sport is simply expensive.  Then I started looking at the reviews.  Most of the reviews lauded the product suggesting that it helped them to improve their running form, and/or increased their speed and/or decreased their injuries.  I almost bought it.  A few of the reviews were seemingly from avid runners who suggested that this product was great for people who had bad form.  It would help them to improve their form.  That sounds good, but the point they were making was that if your form was already pretty good, then it would not give you much.  How can you improve on something that is already good?  One reviewer stated that the device showed him/her that everything was good except for his/her cadence, which he/she already knew.

This got me thinking about cadence, so I started reading articles about cadence.  Admittedly,  I have never really thought much about cadence other than to think that if my legs were moving faster, then I would be running faster.  Some of the articles I read suggested that one should be running with a cadence of around 180 steps per minute.  Other articles suggested that 180 steps per minute was a flawed hypothesis based off of a flawed study, but suggested that the average runner runs with a slower cadence than they should be running with.  Other articles suggested that a slower cadence could be the result of over striding which could cause heavier foot striking and braking and potentially more frequent injury; e.g. ITBand, achilles, heel, foot, calf, hip injuries.  Some of it seemed a bit of a stretch and I began to wonder if this was one of those very common scenarios where there is a whole lot of conjecture, but no one really knows anything.

I remembered that my Garmin watch also calculates a whole lot of data that I never really found much use for, and one of those stats was/is cadence.  So, I looked up a few of my runs and noticed that on the runs where I was feeling sluggish and not running very well, my cadence was around 160.  So, I began looking at more of my races.  Those races where I felt good, or posted a good time, my cadence was closer to 170.  I began to wonder if there may be something to this cadence thing.  Maybe it was simply that I was running faster, so my legs were moving faster, so my cadence was higher... or maybe, just maybe my cadence was higher and therefore, my legs were moving faster without expending as much energy as I was taking shorter steps and not working so hard and taking as much of a pounding which allowed me to run faster longer.  I don't know, but I thought I would give it a try.   Lately, I have been feeling discouraged because it seems that I am getting slower and having more difficulty training and more difficulty during my races.  I started to wonder if I got injured earlier because of poor running form.  Or maybe it is possible that I altered my running form because of my injury which caused me to slow down and struggle.  Either way, I decided that it was worth the effort to try to run and concentrate on my cadence.

So, I started out on my run.  I focused all of my thoughts on my cadence.  I did not worry with how fast I was going or elevation or terrain or pacing, simply keeping my feet moving with short steps.  There were times where I would find myself going too fast and I would slow down but I made sure to keep my feet moving at the same pace which decreased my stride.  Uphill sections made me feel like the witch from The Wizard of Oz, that is peddling super fast and not going anywhere fast.  Downhill sections were a bit of a struggle to not lengthen my stride.  

In full disclosure, the temperature because of the rain was around 79 F instead of the normal 92 F, but I ran 3.37 miles 8:18, 8:17, 8:19, 7:47

And I felt great.  I was hardly sweating and my breathing was not labored.  I was considering another lap and would have taken it, but we had dinner plans and I did not want to sweat through my shirt at dinner.

Is there anything to this cadence thing, or is it simply that I had a good day, or that I was sufficiently hydrated or the weather was not as oppressive or I drew the right Tarot cards?  I do not know.  Maybe it is some combination of all of the above, but I intend to try it this way again and see if there is any difference or trend data.

Oh, and BTW my average cadence was 170.  I'll post again after my run this afternoon. -- BTW, I don't see buying the Lumo Run at this time.

Big Sky Half Marathon Race Recap

Ennis Montana -- Big Sky Half Marathon

Race recap for state #10 -- Montana.

Registration:

I registered for this race online through events.com.  The reason I chose this race is explained in the following that I wrote on the plane ride home from Montana:

Some of these states are simply a long way away from Florida. Montana is one such state, so I had the brilliant idea to combine a couple of trips in an effort to minimize the time and expense of travel.  Several of you are aware that I go to Seattle regularly to teach and learn at the Kois Center. Our big annual Symposium was this past week. Keeley was asked to be a Junior Counselor for the youth program while I was in meetings. It is a fairly big deal for both of us. We needed to go out to Seattle to start our meetings and events early (7:00am) on Tuesday, which meant we had to travel on Monday. The event continues until late Saturday afternoon. So, I searched for a race out there somewhere and relatively in that time frame. I came upon the Big Sky Half Marathon in the Mountains of Montana.  It looked interesting and was run the day after my Seattle trip. This would allow me to fly out to Seattle, take part in my meetings and run the race and still be home in time for work on Monday. That sounded all good, but came with a series of challenges. One challenge was elevation. The race start was 8500+ ft above sea level.  I will discuss that more in a minute. Another challenge was time. Ennis Montana is slightly over an hour away from Bozeman Montana. Bozeman is the closest airport to Ennis. Getting good flights to Bozeman and from Bozeman that met our time frame proved to be challenging. Another aspect of the time challenge was that we would have no time to acclimate to the elevation as we would arrive the evening before the race, and there was really no chance of getting there any sooner without skipping the Seattle trip all together, and that was not gonna happen. Yet another challenge was sleep. It is not an uncommon scenario at these Sympsiums that I get very little sleep. Meetings early in the morning after a long travel day, events all evening, sometimes quite late, and early morning meetings again the next day until the red-eye flight home. Now, on this trip, if you couple the meetings and lack of sleep with more travel and a very early race check-in time of 5:00am, then a 13.1 mile race and yet another race to get to the airport in time to not miss your flight, sleep becomes a bit of a challenge. 

 Fee:

This one was pretty cheap, in comparison at $65.00 with no other fees.

The Expo:

There was no expo.  The pre-race packet pick-up had two options explained here:

Race Check In

There are two options for race check in. 

First, a box with SWAG bags, bib numbers, and all materials will be in the tasting room of Willies Distillery beginning Saturday afternoon.  Willies is at 312 Main Street in Ennis.  There will be a runners list in alphabetical order.  Find your name, note your bib number, and then get your bib number/bag from the box, and finally check off your name noting that you've picked up your bag.   This will be available for everyone beginning Saturday afternoon to about 8 PM.  Also, be sure to have a drink at Willies Distillery after you get your bag.  It's the best way to prepare for the Big Sky Marathon.

Second, we will have race day check in starting at 5:00 AM at the shuttle stop near the Exxon Town Pump gas station.  We will sign in runners until the shuttles depart for the starting line.  There is no check in at the starting line.

I opted to check in race day at 5:00 AM as I had difficulty getting there in time the night before... also, I might be tempted to over sample at Willies Distillery.  LOL.

Interesting story related to this... I walked up and the race director asked, "are you here to check-in?"  I responded, "Yes, sir."  He asked, "Name?"  I said, "Bynum".  He asked, "You are Jeff Bynum?"  I said, "yes".  He turned to a lady and pointed to her and said, "see, there?!?!"  and laughed out loud.  I asked, "What did I miss?"  He stammered and said, "it's nothing."  He then handed me my race packet and turned and walked away.  What the heck was that???  I still don't know.

Shirt:

The shirt was a short-sleeved wicking, tech shirt... and it came in this little bag.

Race Day:

Sunday, dark and early.

Race Start Time:

Race start was supposed to be 7:30am.  We actually started about 7:34am, but allow me to explain how this worked.  After race check-in at 5:15am, the busses (2 yellow school busses) made their way up the mountain.  The busses left about 6:00am.  Keeley and I followed the busses up the mountain.  There was ONE road.  One rocky, bouncy, hilly mountain road.  Dust was flying up behind the busses.  We had difficulty seeing the busses because of all of the dust.  Up we went to 8592 ft above seal level.  At about 6 miles into the trip, it dawned on me that we were traveling up the same road that I would soon be running down.  I do not recommend traveling the same road you are about to run before you run it.  It seemed long difficult, and my mind was preparing for this to be long and difficult.
The bus ride was a bit over an hour.  Somewhere along the hour drive, I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom.  By the time we made it all the way up, I REALLY needed to go.  There were two port-a-potties at the start.  This formed a line of about 40 people.  I could NOT wait.  I will spare you the details.  Suffice it to say I will never use those compression sleeves again.  There was still a line to the potties when the race started.

Course Map:

This is not exactly a course map, but it is from my Garmin.  I post it here because I thought you might find it interesting.  The blue line is my pace.  The gray part is the elevation.  Notice it is all downhill, except for these small (looking) uphill sections.  They were super steep and hard... so, I walked them.  Notice the blue line dips dramatically every time the course has any sort of uphill.  Makes me laugh (at myself).  Even worse was the last mile when my legs felt like they were filled with cement.

Here is the course map via Google Maps.

Accommodations:

Keeley and I stayed at the Silvertip Lodge.  It is a fishing camp.  It was not anything special.  The beds were comfortable and there was a bathroom with a shower.  I was able to come back to the lodge and shower after the race, but the manager was NOT happy.  He was ADAMANT that I "COULD NOT" return after the race.  There is NO late check out for the marathon!"  Well, I made it back before checkout time, so I was able to shower.  They had already cleaned most of the room and took our waters out of the fridge, but at least I got a shower.

Transportation:

Rental car from Bozemon airport.  Then rental car up the hill.  Shhhhh.... don't tell the rental car agency, but Keeley drove the rental car down the mountain to the finish and waited for me.

Here is a pic she took of me coming in to the finish.

Weather:

The weather was great.  No humidity.  Nice and cool.  The Garmin shows 57F.  I could deal with that type of weather all the time.

Race Morning:

I think I already covered this part... but to gloss over it for clarity.  5:00am we got up and got ready.  Trekked all the way the the EXXON station (it was about 200 yards).  Got the race packet, off-roaded up the mountain.  Hid with the bears in the woods and then ran down the mountain.  Got my medal and bak to the lodge for a shower, then off to the airport.

Race:

This was a smaller race and not at all like any of the other races that I have done.  To be fair, the slogan for the race series is "These ain't no pansy ass city races".  This proved to be true.  It was mostly rocks and gravel and dust and deer and elk and antelope and solitude.  I ran alone with the exception of twice when I passed a few ladies on a downhill section.  (They all passed me back at some point).

Water/Food Stations:

There were NO food stations and an igloo cooler was on a table with paper cups at mile 3 and 6 and 9.  All of which, BTW were on the downhill sections.  So, in order to get water, one needed to stop and pull a cup out of the plastic sleeve and pour the water out of the spout and drink the water, then either hold the cup until the next station or discard it right there.  (they did not want anyone to litter the national park).  I did not want to stop to get water, but I would have if I needed it.  What made it worse was that they were all on downhill sections.  I was not about to stop on the downhill part.  That was the only time I was moving at any relative rate of speed.  I carried a water bottle from the start.  At about mile 5, I lost the cap, so water was sploshing out all over me.  At about mile 8, I dropped the bottle. It rolled into the woods.  I couldn't find it.  Not that I could see very clearly.

Scenery:

It was really pretty.  As you can see from the pictures.

Race Entertainment:

None, and none and none.  No music, not spectators, no bands, no earbuds, no nothing.  Just me and God.  I thanked Him many times on my trip down the hill.  Not sure I was coherent enough to say anymore to Him.  Thank God for the Holy Spirit.

Finish:

The finish was simply 13.1 miles from the start.  The only reason I knew it was the finish was because it was the first time I saw another person that wasn't running.  No clapping, no music, no DJ, no fanfare.  Keeley smiled, took my picture and laughed at me breathing heavy.  I got some water out of the igloo cooler and got my medal and left.

Bling:

Misc:

Downhill sounds fun, but it certainly comes with its own set of issues.  My quads are killing me right now.  The lactic acid has built up and planted itself firmly in my quads and hips and hamstrings.  I was worried about the altitude.  I considered medications and all sorts of stuff.  In the end, I took nothing except two cliff shots.  One before the start and one at mile 9.  The altitude did not bother me too much.  I got winded a bit quicker than normal and only on the uphill sections, so I just walked them.  I recovered easily and moved on.  I was concerned about becoming anaerobic and not being able to recover, so I ran slowly.  I resigned myself to last place.  I figured, "who cares???".  In the end, I was not last place.  There were only a handful of people in front of me.  But I was much slower than my best time.  Seems like one should run faster since most of the race is downhill, but I was careful.  I did not want to over do it and struggle.  I was also somewhat careful on the downhill sections because the gravel road was rocky and one could easily fall and/or twist an ankle.  Downhill also comes with issues of banging your toes into the front of your shoes.
This is not only unsightly, but it is also painful  This oic was taken in the airport yesterday.  They look worse today (I'll spare you the picture) and I am certain that I will lose both of these toe nails, as I have already lost four others on the smaller toes.

In the end I finished just under 2 hours.  I am happy with that.  Next race, Mesa Falls Idaho.  Right now, I am content to sit in this chair and not move.

Altitude and Open Water Swim

Since I posted the picture, I will start with the Open Water Swim portion of my blog.  Because continuity of thought pattern is incredibly important in my blogs?!?!

Anyway, I was at the lake in Winter Haven.  I had to get a new tire for the truck because I got a nail in the old one.  This place in Winter Haven often does free repairs, so I took it over there, but alas they told me it was not repairable.  But, they offered me a significant rebate on a new one because the old one was fairly new.  Long story short... it only cost me $79 total for a new tire.  So, I figured that was worth the drive to Winter Haven.  I could not find a similar offer anywhere around here, so I figure it saved me almost $200.  Anyway, the boys and I dropped off the truck when they opened at 8:00am and we walked over to this BBQ restaurant for breakfast.  I know it sounds weird, but it is a very popular venue in Winter Haven for breakfast on a Saturday.  When we walked in, I thought for sure that I had ventured in to Mayberry during old home week.  EVERYBODY knew EVERYBODY... BY NAME.  They did not wait to be seated, they just walked in and waved and found someone to sit down with.  The waitress brought their favorite drink without asking what they wanted... they simply KNEW.  During their meal, they would get up and go sit with someone else and chat with them as if they were at a family reunion.  Everybody knew everything about everybody, yet they asked each other questions that they already knew the answers to.... "How's Erma doin'?"... "Yeah, I heard that."... "Hey there George.  Lookin' good after your knee replacement."... then they would continue eating and telling each other stories that they have all likely heard several times before.   The food was really good.  I simply had eggs, bacon, grits, and a biscuit.  The boys had pancakes and biscuits and gravy.  All good.  I don't remember how much it cost.  I did not really care, it was good enough.  After breakfast, we walked back to the tire store and the truck was ready and we went back to the house.  I realized that I had eaten more than I should have, so I decided to go for a run, but I also decided to wait for a coupe hours to digest my food.

Finally, I went for a run.  I ran to Legoland.  It is a hair over 3 miles.  I have, in times past run to Legoland and around the back of the park and the parking lot until I reached 3.5 miles, so much return would also be 3.5 miles and give me a decent run.  I got a little weak minded today and just turned around at 3.0 miles.  Oh well.  Then I got a little more weak minded in there and walked for a minute at mile 4 or so.  Then, I found myself plotting my next stopping point.  My mind was filled with when would be the best place for me to stop and walk.  Just weak.  Then, when I got to my lake, I could see my house at the far end of the lake.  I knew it was almost two miles around the lake to the house at this point.  Needless to say, I was tired of running and looking for excuses.  So...  I decided to swim.  What the heck was I thinking?  I have no idea how far it is from Cypress Gardens BLVD across the lake to the house, but without regard, I decided to swim.  I flipped off my running shoes and socks, stripped off my shirt and shorts, leaving me with only my compression shorts.  Stepped into the water and began to swim.

I probably made 50 strokes before I realized that this was going to take longer than I anticipated and was going to be more difficult than I had hoped.  There were several problems.  I will list just a few.  1.  There were four boats on the lake at the time.  Three more came along during my trip.
2.  I did not have any goggles, so I could not see where I was going.  Lake water is not always what you want to look through.  Even if you could see anything of value, it would not give you any indication that you were headed in the right direction.
3.  There were lake weeds and various other things floating in the water that, at times resembled living creatures that might make my swim more interesting.
4.  I am, apparently, not a great swimmer any more.  I swam free-style, breast struck, flutter kick, upside down flutter kick, upside down breast stroke (if that is even possible).
5.  I was not wearing any sunscreen.  Why would I?  I was only going for a short 7 mile run.  I certainly was not planning on a 40-60 min. swim.
6.  My Garmin was acting a little funny.  To be fair, it may have been me.  It started beeping and buzzing at me somewhere along the way as if it was going to shut off to save power.  So, I told it to resume and it looked like it started over... but then when I got home (yes, I made it home) it only registered a swim part way into the lake.    Surely I did not swim to the center of the lake and stop there.  I did not even get "credit" for the entire swim.  Oh well.
--- I could continue... but I won't.

I really have no idea how long it took me or how far it was.  I suppose it does not matter, but it would be interesting for me to know the distance I traveled and how long it took me.  Either way, I am betting that I worked off part of my breakfast.

Why was I swimming in the first place?  I am not training for a triathlon.  I have ridden the stationary bike.  I have now swum.  Obviously I have been running.  I decided to swim because I am a bit nervous about the race next weekend in Big Sky, MT.  Which brings me to the Altitude portion of the blog.

The race next Sunday starts at 9000 ft elevation.  I have been reading a lot about running at altitude.  It is apparently a fairly difficult thing to go from sea level to relatively high altitude without acclimation.  I do not have time for acclimation.  I will not arrive in MT until the evening before the race as I will be in Seattle the entire week before.  So, I will show up, climb to 9000 ft and run.  This is precisely what "they" suggest that one should NOT do.  I have read about oxygen masks... that is, wearing a mask that will deliver oxygen as "they" say that the oxygen is less at altitude -- I would argue this point.  Actually, I WILL argue this point.  Here in FL the oxygen in the air is 21% O2.  (roughly).  In the mountains, the air is 21% O2.  This is important.  We need nearly 20% to survive.  The difference is the air pressure.  Since the air pressure is decreased at altitude, it is more difficult for the O2 molecules to enter into the blood stream and be delivered to the brain and the muscles, organs, etc.  So, in order to get the required amount of O2 molecules in the blood stream, we need to increase our respiration rate.  Hence the reason that we get more winded during strenuous activity while at altitude.  We can get acclimated to this decrease in pressure, but it takes time... time that I do not have.  So, back to my point about oxygen masks.  As I understand it, the pressure will remain the same whether or not one is wearing a mask.  It CAN deliver more O2, but the atmospheric pressure is still the same, so we would still have difficulty perfusing that O2 into the blood stream.  I have also read bout medications.  There is one medication that is used for altitude sickness.  Basically, it increases one's respiration rate to allow for more O2.  This can certainly help deliver the O2 to the blood stream, but may not help with strenuous activity in altitude and may even hinder performance - although it is a stimulant and banned from competitive sports.  Also, there is much written about corticosteroids -- anti-inflammatories.  Also, potentially a benefit for recovery from altitude sickness.  It also shows potential benefit for performance, but carries some side effects and risk.  Risk that I am not really interested in taking.

So, I can really find nothing that --- oh yeah, there is the whole blood doping thing.  Simply explained, as I understand it, one COULD draw their own whole blood and store it.  After a period of 5-6 weeks or so, one will regenerate more red blood cells back to normal/baseline.  Then prior to the event, that whole blood (containing the red blood cells) can be added back into the body.  This will effectively give the athlete more red blood cells and more opportunity to carry more O2.  From what I read, it is possible and beneficial to aid in performance.  After all, the reason for fatigue is the depletion of the oxygen... so more oxygen would delay the fatigue.

Suffice it to say, I am not going to do that... or any of the other things I just discussed.  Even if I wanted to, I do not have the time to regenerate the RBC's before race time, so it would be worthless to subtract and then add back the same amount.  Even I can do the math on that one.  Net gain 0.

So, I have biked and now swum in an effort to do something, anything to increase my cardio.  My mind is weak, so I am having difficulty solo training.  I have little incentive to train longer and harder and I talk myself into stopping or slowing.  So I figure if I add another activity, at least my body is active and I am forced to utilize and improve my cardiac output.  I am hoping that this will assist me WHEN I get fatigued up the mountain.

I have no idea if I will survive the race.   I have a VERY tight time frame, so if I want to make my flight back with my daughter, then I NEED to finish in a respectable time and rush to the airport.  I bet I will survive, but it is quite possible that I miss my return flight if I struggle through the race.  I have no idea if any of this swimming, etc. will help me in MT, but I figured it is worth a shot.

Wish me luck.  Prayers are welcomed.  I'll update you... maybe while I am stranded in MT after I miss my flight.

Incremental Improvement

A little better every day.  Continue to work and you will get stronger and faster.  Muscles with become stronger.  Cardio will improve.  Red blood cells will multiply.  Oxygen will be delivered more rapidly to all of the areas that need it.  Stamina will improve.  One will be able to run faster longer.  All you have to do is put in the work and you will steadily improve… right?!?!  Sounds plausible, but NO! and NO!! and NO!!!  THAT IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS!  Oh, and you will lose weight because you are expending more energy and burning more calories, right??  NO, and NO again. 

Who writes this poop?  I have heard these things my whole life.  I have believed many of these my whole life.  I have even told some of these things to others in an attempt to teach them how to improve.  BUT IT DOES NOT WORK THIS WAY!  At least not with running, at least not for me, at least not at this moment.  There are simply too many factors involved.  As I have mentioned before, I have had the mindset that running should just be easy.  It does not require a lot of equipment and preparation.  One just decides to go run and they just go run… SIMPLE… BUT IT IS NOT SIMPLE!  Not easy, not inexpensive, not quick (in reference to time consumption), It DOES require a bunch of equipment — expensive equipment, (my shoes are $150 a pair… my shorts are at least $75 each… my socks are $15 a pair), lots of research, and multiple ups and downs.

These things are difficult to accept when you have been relatively successful with a totally different mindset for your entire life, but the most difficult thing for me to deal with is the mental aspect of this sport.  Most of the sports that I have participated in have been physical sports.  Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, racquetball, tennis, etc… even golf and bowling etc… to some degree.  Just run full speed or swing hard or throw hard or hit hard.  Yes, I recognize that there is the need for finesse in all of these sports.  Most of the times when I have had difficulty with these sports has been because I tried to “muscle” my way through where I lacked finesse.  And to be fair (to me :) ), this technique has a fair level of success.  Not with running though.  Running is a different animal.

If I were to simply run faster and/or train harder, I have already shown, I would injure myself, and/or I would “gas out”.  It just does not work the same way as everything else I know.  I still think it should be easy.  I read an article the other day that was suggesting that running should be fun.  Just like when you were a kid.  Kids just run.  They run in the house.  They run in the mall and in the parking lot and in the grocery and everywhere.  They run around the pool. They run to the bathroom.  They run for fun and they enjoy running.  This article was suggesting that we should enjoy running the same way.  I have said this before and I will repeat it here — I do not like running!  Running is not fun.  I do not run to the bathroom (except in those rare moments when the Mexican restaurant wasn’t as clean as it should have been.  And even then it is less of a run than a squeeze and waddle.)  

I set this goal of running these half marathons as a way of forcing myself to continue running for fitness and weight control.  Without a goal, when it becomes difficult, most people, myself included often quit.  So, I set a goal.  I kind of figured that I would lose some weight and I would be able to run easier and farther and improve … just as a matter of working and expending the energy.  And just for fun, and to upset me, that is exactly what happened at the beginning.  I lost weight.  I was able to run farther.  Running was easier.  It was never fun, but it was easier.  I was faster.  I just assumed that would continue.  It did NOT!

I ran today with Valerie.  She was slated to run 4 miles.  Run for two minutes and walk for two minutes.  I figured I would run with her for a while, then when she started her walk phase I would continue running and double back and pick her up.  I figured I would run at least five miles, sort of around in circles.  I did just that for the first of her two miles which was a bit more than 2.5 miles for me.  But then my weak mind took over.  We got to the point where I knew she was at two miles and needed to turn around, so instead of running past and circling back as planned… I STOPPED and walked with her.  Then when she turned around and started back… instead of running past and circling back to pick her back up… I ran WITH her, at HER pace… AND THEN WALKED WITH HER — TWICE.  Then I decided that was not gonna work for me, so I ran on back to the neighborhood, then doubled back for her and went back to the house with her.  Such a weak mind.  It has become increasingly easier for me to convince myself to stop, to walk, to slow up — what a wuss!  And to make matters worse, when I got home I noticed that my shirt was drenched, soaking wet.  I laid down on the hardwood floor in the living room.  I left a puddle…. and I was tired!  I think I averaged a 10:00 minute mile for just over five miles and I was exhausted and sweating profusely.  So much for running becoming easier and more fun over time.  So much for improvement.

I am fully aware that we all go through dips in our journey in every sport and all aspects of life, and maybe this is just one of those.  It sure is frustrating though.  

I am getting a little nervous about Big Sky Montana in a few weeks.  Elevation is somewhere around 9000 feet above sea level.  Rumor has it the air is thin up there and the oxygen is not as abundant.  I was really hoping that I would be in great shape and the effects of the altitude would not be such a big deal.  Another potential issue is that this is a fairly small and remote race.  I am not so sure there will be any significant hydration stations.  I have been looking at water packs and water belts and had held bottles, etc… but I do not like to carry a bunch of “stuff”.  This should be interesting.