I'm Done, Time for you to have fun

 Everyone is going to claim that 2020 has been a total dumpster fire, but I really didn't expect this. I have to hang up my running shoes for good this time. I had a pretty good spring, no races or any structured training, but I got some miles in. I also poured a concrete sidewalk, tons of other landscaping around the new front porch, sold a bunch of woodworking projects, it was a blast. 

Happily running downtown

 

Memorial day weekend I poured some concrete, then got the tiller out to grade and de-weed the entire front yard. Spread some grass seed and cover it with straw, building the lawn I always wanted. In the process, I herniated my L5/S1 disc, pinching off a chunk of the disc that then lodged into the left sciatic nerve cavity causing excruciating pain shooting down my left leg. It rendered me unable to sit upright, but I could still stand for about 15 minutes and lay down prone. 

Treatment started at the chiropractor. He said if it didn't help, I should see the family doc for a dosepack of prednisone, and if that didn't help to see an orthopedist. Chiro didn't help, prednisone didn't help, ortho ordered an MRI that found the actual problem.

MRI printouts

The MRI showed the pinched disc, and where the chunk was hitting the nerve. That's what the pencils are pointing at. Ortho gave me some diclofenac and a serious anti-inflammatory to help control the nerve damage and pain. Then I started getting acupuncture as well, and that really did clear up the symptoms.

Really, that all took about 5 weeks before I got any relief. Acupuncture and the nerve drug had cleared up all of the symptoms. So most of June and July I was down. The reference material all says that if the nerve damage takes longer than about 2 weeks to clear up the effects could be permanent. 

Nerve damage doesn't heal very fast, even after the pain goes away. Damaged nerves don't send the appropriate signals to muscles when you want to train or perform basic tasks. There is already a visible muscle atrophy, my left calf is significantly, noticably, smaller than my right. The muscle definition isn't there, and my left leg won't perform the way it used to, even if there is no pain.

My hatred of summer is well documented, I have a very low tolerance for heat. I always thought this was all in my head, everyone felt as bad about the heat as I did. Well turns out that's not true either. My acupuncturist has some herbs that are supposed to cool me down! This sounded great. The second day I was on the herbs, I walked outside with Kelley. She said it felt exactly the same as the day before, I thought it felt 20* cooler! This was amazing. Unfortunately, that was the only day I actually felt any different. Stayed on the herbs for a few more weeks but still had my SAD kick in hard with the heat, it was just a brutal summer. And this:

Ladies glisten. Ella doesn't even have her hair pulled back! They barely broke a sweat. We walked about 30 minutes and I sweat through my shirt so hard I had to take a shower when we got back home. They were not affected like I was. Incredible. What a tough summer.

Then the bottom fell out 3 weeks ago. I was feeling great, went back to the ortho for the final follow up, told him I felt 95% better and got the all clear from him to resume normal activities but no running. That was on a Tuesday. The following Saturday I cut the grass and spread some mulch, and that night the nerve problem came roaring back in a way that I couldn't fathom. 

I've never felt pain like that before. I couldn't really lay down prone in a comfortable way, but it was the most tolerable. I couldn't stand long enough to do anything. I could only walk about 10 steps. I was on the couch for a long time. It was so bad, I could usually walk the 10 steps from the couch to the bathroom, but couldn't stand up long enough to pee and couldn't always walk back. My left leg just wouldn't support my body weight, the muscle just wouldn't respond. 

This lasted for 10 days. First I went to the urgent care at the ortho, they called in some Oxycodone and got me another appointment with the same ortho that just gave the all clear a week before. He ordered another MRI that I had the following Saturday. The Wednesday after that I started to feel some relief, but didn't believe it. Friday I got the call to schedule this surgery. So this upcoming Friday September 11th I'm going under the knife to get this chunk of disc removed. 

So at this point I had 5 weeks of pain, 3 weeks of getting better, then 3 more weeks of absolutely unbearable pain that even oxy couldn't help. I was only sleeping 1-2 hours a night on the couch, working from the couch in between forced sleep from the oxy, and doing grad school from the couch. Stumble from the couch to the bathroom, cry on the bathroom floor after attempting to walk back. 

After the surgery the pain should be gone, but the nerve damage is likely permanent. Running marathons on a weak left leg is just not possible. So I'm done. I have to be done. Maybe next year I'll be able to walk a few miles, but marathons are just not going to happen and that's what I really enjoy. Need to come up with a new 50 state challenge too. 

2020 sucks. Here's some other pictures of the family, just to end on a high note. I turned 45 back in July, the kids both leveled up again (they are loving the online school this year, 8th and 10th grade), so enjoy

Father's day 2020

My absurdly hot saint of a wife

I did get outside a little bit to work some

Happy I finished my Real Estate class

First day of 8th and 10th grade

A Really Good Day

I never do "day in the life of" posts because I'm actually very boring day over day. But yesterday was quite special in a normal day kind of way. Walk you through it.

6:40 am
Woke up feeling refreshed and a few minutes before the alarm clock went off. Breakfast was oatmeal with raisins and a banana, delish! Got in my first workout of pushups (40) and some planking, followed by about 30 minutes of yoga. The time on the mat was particularly calming and felt great, and I haven't been on the yoga mat very much lately so this was much appreciated.

8:20 am
Made my way into the office. The commute is only about 6 minutes now, and that is quite nice. I am starting to get settled in at this new job, and I've been assigned a special project that is really fun. My new coworkers are really smart, and this system is very complex. I have been feeling like it's too complex for me to fully understand, but trying to have patience in learning the new system. That's not easy. This is week 3 of the new job, and I'm still waiting on that first paycheck to come in, which is equally frustrating. Finally starting to make some progress on the new project was a nice confidence boost.

The Oval, right behind my office building on the NC State Centennial Campus - BEAUTIFUL

11:15 am
We regularly have a meeting scheduled from 11:30 to 1pm on Wednesdays which directly conflicts with my noon swim practice. I hate this meeting anyway. Today it got cancelled! Yay! I can actually make the Wednesday swim practice! But I have no gear.

11:30 am
go to swim practice. Swing by the house first to pick up my gear and some extra food - love that short commute! It really does make a huge difference. We got 3200 yards in the pool in an hour and 15 minutes with some hard 100's that I absolutely crushed. Felt great to be in the water, so glad I was able to make practice.

1:30 pm
Back to the office, eating at the desk. Realized I brought a lunch that was fit for a non-workout day. Right after I finish that, someone tells me there is catering leftovers in the main break room, so I grab an extra sandwich from there to finish things off, and a brownie. I get a text about a bill pay, and Kelley tells me that both paychecks came in today! I get paid every week and it took a few weeks for the system to catch up. Ah, getting paid on the 29th of the month is a real relief when you have to make a mortgage payment and the first health insurance payment on the new plan (not withheld) so we paid all of the bills. amazing.

Then I cleared a huge milestone on my new project. For my fellow nerds, I was able to use a console app to authenticate TFS online, execute a query and process the work items returned individually. This is very challenging, and finally getting the result set I was expecting was a serious win!

4 pm
Work held a social hour in the big Centennial room on the first floor. This meant free beer and catering for all employees, and apparently they do this once a month. My boss found us all down there and told me how excited he was about my project and that he left a LexisNexis pint glass on my desk because all of the cool kids had one. I'm cool now. And finally full. Nothing better than free food (and beer!) after a nice hard swim practice. I went home after the social hour and got to hang with the fam for a bit.

6:30 pm
Choir practice started and was wonderful. I don't talk much about singing or church on here, but that is how I worship best. I love my church and the family feeling we have in the choir, usually about 20 - 30 people singing. Practice ran a bit long tonight, then we end up hanging out talking for a while after practice.  Here's a video Kelley took from the service a few weeks ago where I got to lead a song of worship.

8:20 pm
Hitting the gym for my last workout of the day. Like I mentioned earlier, I am on a marathon training plan again and I had to get in my 6 miles with a 25 minute tempo section in there. I went into the gym feeling grateful for exactly how well everything had gone so far. There was no way I had the energy or stamina to pull off a good run after all of that. But since it was the day where good things happen, I nailed it. Hit my tempo time, felt good the whole way. It's too hot to run outside anymore here in NC, so I'm on the treadmill all the time again. Baseline was at a 7.5 speed (8 minute miles), and for the tempo 25 minutes I took it up to a 7.8 mph (7:38 pace) until it was time to cool down.

9:30 pm
Made it home tired and satisfied. Icing on the cake, June 30 is the next price increase for 2 of the marathons on my 12 in 8 months list. After paying all of the bills, we still had enough left over to go ahead and register for both of them. So I'll be going back for my 3rd Tobacco Road marathon in March, and my first time tackling the City of Oaks marathon will be in November. Both are local, here in Raleigh so the logistics are easy.

11:30 pm
back to bed.

See? that's a totally normal day. I went to work, had some solid workouts, got to spend some time with Kelley and the kids in between, and capped it off with registering for 2 marathons. It just so happened that everything went right in some very incredible ways.

Since about mid-May when I found out my last job contract was not going to be extended, it has been kind of high stress around here. I was glad to finally be done with that place, and it only took a week to get this Lexis job lined up. But the transition into Lexis has been incredibly frustrating. I know the zen theories about suffering (everybody has both good days and bad, in the end they number about the same) but to string a bunch of bad days together like we had then was really tough. Being unexpectedly unemployed for over a week while I waited on a background check to clear threw a lot of money stuff up in the air. It was a valley for sure. Then stuff started to go right again. I got into the payroll system. The complex software started to roll up. Today was a real peak. it makes me humble and grateful.

The Mechanics

First let me say thank you. My 2015 year in review post got so many encouraging comments. You guys obviously recognized that I've been a bit blue this year, and your kind words really helped. I've been in a downward spiral for a while, and whenever this work thing settles down it will start to stabilize.

The consistent beer intake doesn't help depression. I'm not out getting hammered, just one or two beers when something else gets annoying. But then Kelley pointed out that it's happening about 6 days a week. And then I'm over 190 lbs for the first time in 5 years. And I'm feeling all of that weight (and age) when I'm running, and I'm running a lot more than ever before to get ready for the Umstead 100. So my hips, and knees, and feet are all feeling the effects of all of that; it's not pleasant at all.

On a trail run last weekend, the car said 48* but I did 17 miles comfortably in shorts and no sleeves because I do what I want. It was a fantastic time in Umstead.

Last week I had a unique opportunity. A local physical therapist was giving a clinic on running mechanics and case studies of his 3D gait analysis system. This guy is a runner and helps runners in addition to kids and others recovering from surgery. He can watch you on a treadmill (2D analysis) and make the pains go away. The service is not as pricey as I was expecting, so I may bite down and get a session.

Of course Jim knew all of the medical terminology for the bones, muscles, and movements involved in running. The presentation was very smooth and informative. He talked a lot about what we, as runners, can look for in other runners to spot imbalances and sometimes provided advice to correct them. It really made me think about my own running form and how I keep getting these same problems (left hip flexor, right knee, both feet/ankles) every year.

I came to the following conclusions after the discussion:

• My right hip must be dropping
• My right shoe scrapes my left calf during the recovery portion of the motion, indicating that my left hip is having a problem stabilizing during that part of the movement
• Heel/toe/midfoot strike is not as important as the angle of the shinbone to the knee at ground impact
• Keep the cadence at 180 for short strides. Efficiency is what's going to make me last 100 miles, not speed
• Stand tall - my forward lean might actually be hurting my hip stabilizers

 This clinic was last wednesday night. Thursday I had to go to the gym to hit the treadmill for 10 miles to see if I could make some corrections. I ended up actually having a very surreal experience. The headphones stayed home (by accident) so all I had was the ambient noise around the gym. My mind actually went into a very calm, zen-like state after a few minutes and I was able to be completely still on the inside, even though my body was in constant motion.

When I tried to "run taller" I could actually feel my hips staying balanced more. No more scraping my left calf. I checked my cadence often and at different speeds, and every time it came in right at 180.

To calculate my cadence, I wait for the treadmill timer to hit an even number. Then I count my right (or left) footfalls until I get to 30. The timer should have advanced by exactly 20 seconds. 30 right steps in 20 seconds, multiplied by 3 means 90 right footsteps in a minute. Hopefully, my left foot also got in 90 steps in the same minute, thus giving me exactly a 180 cadence. If my 30 right footfalls took 22 seconds, then my cadence is a bit slow and I need to try and shorten my stride. I've never seen my cadence go over 180, so I don't know how to deal with that. But 180 is a widely used standard for men and women runners, so feel free to use my method the next time you're out and want to check yourself.

Overstriding is when your knee is extended too far before footstrike. Typically this generates a heel strike, but you can still hit toes first. Not letting your shins go past vertical is only a mental adjustment. Think of your knees like a loose hinge so your shins can hang freely like windchimes. This is how you want to land. I don't think I was overstriding too badly, but once I got the cadence in line, and ran taller, I knew my shins were at the proper angle as well.

Really the whole thing came together. I ran 10 miles at a 9 minute pace or faster. I wasn't bored, fatigued, or aerobically challenged. Heart rate never got above 142. The whole thing was just amazing. I really needed that.

Laying out plans

Seriously, why do people like summertime? We've gotten a slight reprieve from the heat this week in NC, and the NFL preseason started this week. So there is hope. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm out of balance right now, and can't seem to get my mojo back on track. The heat means I can only run first thing in the morning, and we're still working on that shed in the evenings. Here's the pattern I'm falling into:

Monday: AM yoga, noon swim
Tuesday: AM run, PM bike/strength
Wednesday: AM run, noon swim, PM church choir practice
Thursday: AM run, PM swim
Friday: AM yoga, noon swim
Saturday: long run, long swim
Sunday: total rest, church, and family day

So I'm getting 4 runs & 4 swims each week, 1 cross training workout, and only 2 yoga sessions. Regular time on the yoga mat keeps the body and mind at ease, and keeps your life in balance. I'm starting to think that I'm missing some of that.

Since I've been keeping this schedule, I've notice that I don't have as much patience with others. I'm getting angry quicker with my coworkers and my kids. It's been a stressful time anyway and I'm just not handling it with my usual calm zen demeanor. Where am I supposed to put in some more yoga time? I think I have to get my time on the mat somewhere to get that mental clarity and meditation time.

I have also recently started attending a men's bible study tuesday mornings at the church with a handful of other guys. This morning I threw out the old yogic saying "Everyone should meditate for 15 minutes a day, and if you don't have 15 minutes a day to meditate then you need to meditate for an hour a day". It got a big laugh and the message hit home. Prayer is talking to God, meditation is listening for the response. Calm the mind and everything else will work out.

Since my fall schedule has a 12 mile swim, marathon, and 50 mile ultra taking up 3 out of 4 weekends in a row I really need to get 25k in the pool every week and build my run volume up into the 40+ miles per week. and the "fall schedule" starts in only 7 weeks! So I can't really compromise the 4 runs or 4 swims per week, and soon I'll get the tuesday night swims back. that's going to be a nice option.

So I have to keep up the volume, and find more time for the mind. so ready to be done with summer.

The 700

This seems hard to believe, but this is the 700th post I've written up on the old blog here. We'll say that maybe 300 of them have actually been interesting, 100 or so race reports, and about 500 with pictures of the kids. Since 2008 this space has been my outlet for creative expression and along the way I've been able to take some promotions and product reviews too. I gotta admit, I'm still hooked on blogging.

Blogging has lost its appeal over the last few years to society, but not to me. Long form essay writing on a particular topic has been shortened into a facebook status length or 140 character tweet. I don't even know what to think about instagram - it's like facebook for people who don't want to read that much. But I have to believe that there is still a space for bloggers to espouse one topic per post for some in depth knowledge dropping.

Just in case you've missed something over the last 699 posts, I used to blog about the struggles of someone training for their first marathon, then his first Ironman, then another ironman, then another ironman, and all of the struggles that go along with it. The ebbs and flows of goal setting over the course of a year and how the family puts up with all of my crazy goals leads to some interesting dynamics. The transformation I've gone through since 2008 is more than just from smoker to endurance athlete. There may have been a full descent into madness as the goals kept getting bigger and bigger. 15 marathon or longer races, 3 ironmans and 5 ultras, and this year still has my first marathon swim, 3 full marathons and 2 50 milers in 5 different states left to come.

As athletic seasons wane I tend to publish more about family time. This is so that I can document how my family grows and ages, as well as so they can one day go back and see how I did what I did and how they were impacted by it. Blogger doesn't have this feature yet, but I would love to be able to export my posts in ascending date order with all of the pictures so that my kids could one day read this thing like a book. I think wordpress can do that.

So thanks for putting up with my pointless drivel for 700 times, and I'm looking forward to cranking out the next 700 of these things. My focus has certainly changed over the years, from the trembling "can I run a marathon" stage into the full blown confidence it takes to tackle a full in all 50 states and next year try the 100 mile trail ultra scene. The crazy just keeps pouring out.

Be Prepared

Going into a big season like this, we all have to be prepared for whatever races are coming our way. We know what we're getting ourselves into when we sign up for the race (most of the time), but don't always know how we are going to get to that finish line until later.

Before beer mile training

I even did some special training for the Raleigh Beer Mile. Had to time myself chugging brews, and did a session where I chugged then ran to the end of the block and back (0.4 miles total) 3 times.

After beer mile training! Not that drunk

Getting ready for Ironman Raleigh this year meant riding with the cyclist on my relay team since he had never done a triathlon before. I got to teach him the non-drafting rules, how to pass and be passed by others. We had a lot of fun! Eric absolutely smashed his expectations and rode a 2:52 bike split.

Me and Eric after our ride

Also before Ironman Raleigh I got to run with Chris and KC on the IM Raleigh run course. KC had a blast doing her first half iron and is now settled in on her training for IM Chattanooga. Chris is starting his training for a BQ attempt.

Me, KC, Chris

Everybody has to prepare for something. I have the Big Deuce coming up again, my 4th attempt swimming this 2 mile open water race. Goal is to break my 58 minute course pr since I've been swimming much faster lately. I did actually sign up for a triathlon this year, the Battle at Buckhorn sprint at the end of August.

But the fall. Autumn is where it's at. I'm starting to ramp my volume up in the pool to get ready for the 12 mile OWS race in Charleston and I have no idea if what I'm doing is going to be enough or not. Pretty sure my aerobic base is going to be there but I have no idea if the arm mechanics of my swim stroke is going to be able to hold up.

Comparing notes with a RAM teammate who is also doing the race, I'm thinking 25-30k yards a week is going to be enough. He's wanting to get closer to 40k a week. He's never run a marathon, and if I've learned anything from my 15 marathon or longer finishes it's the importance of the weekly long run and getting some 20 milers in there.

Out on a recent run at the NC Capital building

I think 4 or 5 RAM practices (average 3500 yards in 1:15) plus a long swim will be enough to get me there. My recent advances in swim speed deserve it's own post, but I'm really amped about being able to hold a faster pace for longer. In marathon training, I love to ramp up to some 50+ mile weeks and get those long runs to to 20 miles. In swimming, the race is over 19k long, so I'll need to start out with a 5k to 10k long swim, and increase every week by 15 to 30 minutes, I guess? 10k takes about 2.5 hours in the pool. The race has a 6 hour cutoff. I think I need to get my long swims up to about 4 hours?

I've never had to prepare for anything like this before so I really have no idea what I've gotten myself into. Any advice would be appreciated. Maybe swim marathons and running marathons don't require the same approach.

But they literally have to, in my case. You see, I added the extra stupidity of signing up for 3 full marathons and 2 50 milers (in 5 different states to boot) in the 4 months that immediately follow that 12 mile swim race. So that is what I'm in for.  It's going to be an interesting summer. And I really will try to post more so you guys can follow along in my massive training for this crazy adventure. July and August will be the build phase to get me ready for the aerobic challenges in the fall.

What a Whirlwind!

This weekend was epic! I had a lot of fun and a lot of stress. By the time it was all said and done I was ready to crash hard.

Thursday afternoon my buddy Joe came to the office to pick me up and we headed down to my parents house in SC. It was a nice easy trip, we got there about 9 pm. Friday we all headed down to Augusta GA for a fun day at the Masters golf tournament! Joe had never been before, so it was a real treat.

No cameras inside Augusta National so this was the only pic we got

We had a blast! It was such a fun day. Warm but not blistering hot, plenty of shady spots to sit and hang out, watching the golfers play through. We saw Tiger pull an amazing birdie on #11, got to enjoy the Amen corner for a while, and ate lunch on the 15th fairway where we caught Ernie Els. We ended up on #6 green and saw the Phil Mickelson/Rory Macelroy group play through. Eventually we made our way back to the gift shop. Joe mentioned that he wanted to get a shirt because he liked the one I had on. When I mentioned that I bought that one when I was there in 2000, he thought it held up well for a shirt that was 15 years old. So after I realized that shirt was 15 years old, I went ahead and bought myself another shirt too.

Then we got back on the road to Raleigh and made it home about midnight. Another late one, but totally worth it. This was a bro-trip for the ages. Great road trip, Joe's a great friend.

Needless to say I slept in Saturday morning. I picked up my plants for the garden from Mom while I was down there, she has quite the nice array that she started from seed this year. I got tomatoes, bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, and basil. The kids got out there and we had so much fun getting our hands in the dirt! Got all of those planted, found some zucchini and squash seeds leftover from last year. Both raised beds are now full, but I have no idea if those seeds from last year will actually germinate.

Full spring garden!

Ella loves planting day

Toms Peppers and Basil Oh My!

Front yard garden in full effect

Me and my girl getting happy

Our last frost date isn't until April 15 but I chose to plant early instead of letting the plants just sit outside for another week. Getting the garden planted is another one of my favorite days of the year! And this year I ended up with more plants than I could use, plus some others I brought back specifically for my buddy Tom.

Saturday night was the stressful part. Now that we've had some employee turnover at the office, I had to do my first software deployment. We start these things saturday night at 10 pm, and we only did 2 of these last year so this was an amazing amount of work that got published. Doing the deployment wasn't too bad, it was a pretty stable release. It was kind of nerve wrecking though because I had no clue what I was doing and it's a pretty large system. We finally finished up about 1:15 AM! Argh, another late night. At least I didn't have anything to do on Sunday.

OH WAIT. Actually I had to be at the church about an hour early for a mic check. I had to sing a solo with the choir in the service! As if that wasn't stressful enough, the air conditioner was broken so the sanctuary was going to be really hot. Sunday was also the day of the Rock & Roll Raleigh Marathon (which I was not participating in) so getting to the church was a challenge since the church is very close to the course on Hillsborough street.

When the time came, I stepped up to the mic and sang cleanly. Hit the right pitches, didn't flub the words, and it came out pretty cool. Wouldn't say I really crushed it but I sounded pretty good up there. And it was a lot of fun.

When church was out I finally had everything done. Tom came by to pick up his plants and we got to hang out for a while. I got to play with the kids outside some. Sunday at the Masters proved to be a lot of fun to watch - the whole tourney was great and I was seriously impressed with Speith. He seems like a real class act. I took a deep breath. This weekend that had pro golf, 11 hours in the car, gardening, working late, and a solo with the choir was finally all wrapped up. Any one of these crazy things would make for a noteworthy weekend. Packing them all in like that was insane and so much fun.

September's Gone

Here's how it went down: The ironman was on Sept 7 and nothing else mattered.

Swim: 5000 m, 2 swims (1 practice, 1 2.4 mile race)
Bike: 132 miles, 2 rides (1 practice, 112 mile race)
Run: 63.2 miles, 8 runs (inc Ironman marathon)
Strength: 4 times
Yoga: 11 times

This is the only month where I don't mind turning in less than 100 miles. I'm still sitting on 946 miles on the year so I feel good about hitting my 1200 mile goal for the year. Rev3 Cedar Point was what it was, I took what the day gave me and tried to embrace the recovery period. I don't do well with free time or rest days, much preferring to stay active all the time. But I know trying to do to much too soon after a full iron will only land me back in the doctors office with some weird injury. I really miss swimming the most, I should be able to get back in the pool later this week, next week at the latest. Recovery efforts have been focused on finally getting in some strength training! I found a great routine that I really like. It's called a Drop 10 set:

• 100 crunches
• 90 scissor kicks
• 80 lunges
• 70 squats
• 60 lying leg rotations
• 50 second plank
• 40 seated trunk rotations
• 30 squats
• 20 alternating side crunches
• 10 pushups (but I end up doing 20)

pretty solid core & full body circuit, and it takes about 20 minutes to complete. I'm trying to do it 3 times a week. I am really loving being able to get into a regular Ashtanga yoga practice again too! It keeps me centered and calm. I'm looking forward to expanding my yoga practice again through the winter and doing some good promotions for it (wink, wink).

So September was a real roller coaster (pun intended - Cedar Point) of a month. Lots of ups and downs.  October is always my favorite month of the year, and this one is going to be a doozie.  I finally get Virginia knocked off of the 50 state list with a trail 50k, and that will complete my Canada to [Gulf of] Mexico connection (Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida) - how wild is that? Plus the leaves are starting to change color here, football is in full swing, and the air has a familiar cool breeze that puts a smile - and hopefully soon, a beard - on my face.

Rockmont Rocks!

Camp Rockmont is only for Trailblazers, the 4th grade and older kids that have completed the 1st through 3rd grade years of the Indian Princess program with the YMCA. In a way, this is kind of the swan song for Ella's Indian Princess journey with me; it's the culmination of the program. Of course we enjoy doing fun things together and that will continue for as long as she wants to do fun volunteer stuff.  We may or may not go back to Rockmont next year, it is an incredibly expensive trip. But the point of the program is for us to enjoy spending time together, and that goal has been achieved a million times over.

We just got back from the Revolution3 Cedar Point full iron trip late Tuesday night. Wednesday I had some stuff to do around the house, just unpacking and recovering.  We did go to the Farmers Market for a sampler meal that I'm calling the "Ironman's Revenge".  Witness:

Ironman's Revenge - the ultimate ironman recovery meal

Thursday I got everything packed and Ella and I headed to Black Mountain, just northeast of Asheville NC. We rode with my buddy Carl and his daughter. I've enjoyed getting to know the other dads in the tribe as much as Ella has enjoyed getting to know the other girls.  After getting unpacked at the camp, we grabbed dinner at a local mexican restaurant, and my parents drove up from Greenville to drop off some costumes mom had made for the kids and hang out for a bit!  The girls all had a blast hanging out as well.

Checked into the cabin!

I love taking my girl to camp!

We cut them off after a few margaritas

One of the other dads had a genius idea that worked out great on Thursday night. We hung a sheet on the wall outside of the cabin, and had a projector that you could plug an iPad into. So we all sat out on the porch and watched Secretariat. I had never seen it, and that was a great horse movie!

The cabin we got was brand new and in a primo location. And it turns out my buddy Keith from work was staying in the very next cabin with his sons tribe! Too cool.

Friday morning we got up nice and early for a good breakfast before going whitewater rafting! Yes we were about to tackle the French Broad river with some nice class II and class III rapids.  It sounds intense to take 4th graders out like that, but they had a blast and were completely safe the entire trip.

Beautiful day in the mountains!

Ready to hit the river

We had about a 50 minute bus ride out to the river company, Blue Heron Whitewater. From there it was another 20 minute bus ride to the put in location, and time to meet up with the guide and get in the water.

Photobombed by a Yeti!

At Blue Heron waiting to board

One of the other girls in our tribe and myself.  The raft in the background is the rest of our tribe.

We stopped at one point to jump off of this rock into a swim hole. Ella didn't want to jump, but I didn't want to miss out! It was about a 10' jump, but I'm 6' tall. and from 16' up, that water looks intimidating.  It was awesome.

Finally after a big stop at the swimming hole and some good rapids, we stopped for lunch.  One of the other dads had a camera there, so he sent a few pics over.

Ella with the other 2 girls in our boat

They grow up so fast

Dads - they grow up so fast!

This trip was one in a million. It was a beautiful day to be out on the river. The water was high and the rapids were hard.  It was a lot of fun for everyone involved. Friday night we went into Asheville for dinner after some quick showers back at camp. I also totally took a nap on the bus ride back while Ella played on my phone.

This may have been breakfast before we hit the river

After rafting back at the cabin

Wicked Weed's Black IPA - amazing!

Taking kids to a brewpub didn't turn out to be a good idea. Dads loved it, them not so much.

The Orange Peel is a small concert venue in downtown. Kelley and I saw G. Love and Special Sauce there when she was pregnant with Ella! So of course I had to tell her all of those crazy stories.

We ended up getting pizza at a place in Black Mountain, it was wood fired and amazing.  Then it was back to camp for a peaceful night before getting into some serious camp activities on Saturday.

Have map, will navigate camp

Archery - she did really good this year!

 We started with the dry land activities.  Archery, the climbing wall, riflery, canoeing, all of the fun camp stuff. She really enjoyed all of the activities, and got higher on the climbing wall than she's ever gone before. It was also her first time shooting a gun larger than a BB gun (but we shot some BB's too) when we got on the range with some .22's.  She handled it really well even though she was a bit afraid of the sound! The morning activities were a blast.

Getting in the harness

ready to climb

size reference - the green tape to the left is about her height

Going up!

And up! over the green tape now

Making her way up!

.... and swinging freely after falling out.  Might have scared dad a bit.

Holy crap she's still going!

And this was as high as she got.  Higher than anyone else in the tribe!

 

BB Guns

Very excited she hit a pie plate this year!

playing on a hillside - that girl loves the mountains!

Ready to shoot rifles

The girl is a pretty good shot!

After lunch we changed into the swimsuits and hit the water sports.  Not nearly as many pictures of these, but I did start by tackling the Gully Washer, the giant green slide in the lake shots above. This thing drops you about 150 ft and sent me crashing into the lake.  it was pretty awesome, certainly not something I've ever tried before.  It also shows how much Ella has grown; in the past I would have to stay right next to her the entire time. This time I handed her my stuff to carry (inc phone and shoes) and she went down to watch me slide. That means she had to navigate her own way around the camp, find the lake, carry the stuff without dropping anything, and be down there by the time I got through the line and made it down the slide.  By 5th grade maybe she'll be able to get a picture of me coming out of the slide, but still this took a lot of trust for me.  so cool.

Next we hit the Kayaks, then got to swim around in the lake some until it was time for the blob contest.  Now, a blob contest might sound like something I'd do before I lost all the weight, but check this out instead:

Now who wants to see Daddy incur some serious pain? That was one of the other dads in our tribe sending me about 15 feet in the air.  We got points for height and pain factors, but not much style. Still put us in the top 20% or so of all of the dads participating in the blob contest.  That high dive was 12' off of the water and I got bounced higher than that.  Then I panicked and wiggled like a fish some before falling on my side and practically hitting the blob again. Ouch!  That was a ton of fun.

Before I knew it, we were at the saturday night dinner and then heading home.

The whole tribe now as 4th graders

Hanging out by the lake

Child stuffing her face

She didn't want to leave! We already had the car packed up so she's hanging in an empty bunk. :(

We headed out Saturday night instead of Sunday morning because the guy we rode with had an early flight on Sunday afternoon. So we could have spent one more night not sleeping in those humid swampy cabins, eaten a sad breakfast then driven home, or gone saturday night and slept in our own beds.  I think we totally won Rockmont, we only had to spend 2 nights there, got to do the rafting and everything we wanted to do at camp, and this way I got to spend 2 days at home instead of only 1 during my vacation.

This was a very fitting finale to the Indian Princess program for Ella, even though I didn't really tell her that we don't do anything else specifically with her tribe.  We'll still do crafts and volunteer projects together. And we'll still get together with the other kids and dads in her tribe whenever we can. We had a wonderful time at Camp Rockmont and on the river and I wouldn't change a thing.