Instilling a strong work ethic, and family values in our youth.

Recently I was called to a farm to write health papers on some cattle that would soon be traveling to a stock show.  The owner of the farm was very enthusiastic to have me there, and to show off his cattle.  He quickly invited me into the barn, and began regaling me with the genealogies of each of the cattle we looked at.  His wife was also in the barn, she was busy brushing, blow drying and generally beautifying the animals.  Then he began to preach to me on the work ethic, and family values that showing animals instills into children.  As I'm listening to this speech I notice his two children sitting in the corner of the barn, their noses buried in their phones, completely unaware that I am even there.

As his speech drags on, my mind begins to drift and I find myself being drawn back through the mists of time.  As the mists clear I'm standing in a different time and place.  Before me I see two brothers working together to prepare their own steer for a stock show.  The younger brother is holding the lead rope on a nervous animal much larger than himself, as the older brother sprays both the steer and the younger brother (I'm sure quite accidentally) with a cold hose in an attempt to give the animal a bath.  Just then a friendly neighbor drives by, honks his horn, and yells "Looking good boys!"

The honking of the horn turns the already nervous animal into a one animal stampede.  With the little boy hanging onto the lead rope for dear life.  How he's able to keep up with the animal I'm still not sure.  Occasionally a foot seems to touch the ground, but not as often as you think it should, and it seems as if at any moment he'll land squarely on his face.  Meanwhile the older brother with visions of a big paycheck at the end of the stockshow quickly evaporating before his eyes, as his steer darts in and out of traffic, is in hot pursuit.  He's carrying a pitchfork, and yelling at his younger brother.  "If you let go of that D@&$ rope, I'll run you through with this pitchfork!"

Just then the farmer asks me "So, what do you think?"  This snaps me back to the present, and I respond, "Oh, absolutely.  I couldn't agree more.  Showing animals is great for children!  And if nothing else it might prepare them for the track team."

"What?" He asks.  "Never mind." I respond.  "Here are your kids health papers, good luck at the show."  As I walked out of the barn, the kids were still staring at their phones.  Somehow I don't think they'll be making the track team.  But at least they're developing a strong work ethic.

A pain free run

     In 2011 I ran my first marathon.  What I thought at the time would be first of many.  I'd hoped that after getting into shape for the first one, I'd be able to tick off multiple ones in fairly short order by maintaining my fitness.  After the marathon I started pushing harder and faster wanting to be better.  Soon I was plagued with Plantar fasciitis,  and then achilles tendonitis.  It feels like I've been nursing some sort of injury ever since.
    I'd pretty well decided that if I could ever get healthy again, maybe I'd make an attempt at one more marathon, in an effort to qualify for Boston.  I don't know that I feel a desire to run Boston, but I'd like to be good enough to qualify for it.
    When a friend suggested to me two months ago that I run Salt Lake with him on April 18th, I wasn't in shape for a marathon.  I had run a half two months previously, but had quit running after an injury at work.  I took inventory of how I felt.  My ribs still hurt a little from the work accident.  My feet and achilles felt alright.  I didn't feel like I could put in the training to qualify for Boston without getting injured, but possibly I could get in good enough shape to finish the race with my friend.  So I agreed and signed up.
    I've been running 5 times a week since that time.  Strictly sticking to my training plan, and not allowing myself to do extra, trying to avoid any injuries.  My left achilles has bothered me the entire time.  I've been icing it on a fairly regular basis, and I've tried wearing compression sock on my more challenging runs (which has seemed to help).  But still it's been sore, and felt like I could be on the verge of getting worse.
     Well yesterday I had a difficult speed session scheduled.  Speed work usually seems to be the worst on my achilles, which is frustrating because I enjoy doing the speed work despite the pain.  So yesterday somewhere about 6 miles into this workout, it struck me "I'm tired, and my lungs hurt, but my I have not noticed my achilles this whole time."  Even today, nearly 24 hours later (quite often the day after a speed work the achilles is still sore)  It is still pain free.  I don't know what happened or changed in the last two days, but I'm excited.  Maybe I will be able to finish this marathon healthy and injury free.  If that's the case, then I'm already hopeful that I can turn around and build on this base and start training for a marathon that could be a Boston Qualifier.  Knock on wood.

Better not knowing

     Monday I was at a small dairy to preg check the entire herd.  The gentleman that owns the farm has had enough, and decided that it's time to sell the cows.  This always makes me sad, I hate to see small family farms come to an end.  I'm also a sentimental guy, and I have a lot of good memories I have made on this dairy over the years, and it's sad to think I won't be going there anymore.
     The set up for preg checking cows is less than ideal though.  On this particular dairy we run them through the milking parlor one at a time, where I then get behind them and do my work.  Well these cows are used to coming in the barn to be milked, so at least they come in willingly.  Too willingly you might say.  I was shoulder deep in a cow, when I realized that no one had closed the door to the barn behind me.  Cows outside eager to come in did not care that I was there, and piled in right on top of me.  I was able to jump up, and get out with very minor injuries.  I have an eyelet on a boot that's now crushed, and is hard to lace now.   Also there's some bruising on my right leg, but it seems to be intact and functional.
    It is a little sore to run on though.  But being in training for a marathon doesn't leave time for luxuries like days off because of injury.  So I ran six miles on it yesterday anyways.  For the first three quarters of a mile, it felt like I was limping severely in my running stride, and I started to have doubts creep into my head "What am I doing this for?  Why don't you just quit?"  But after a while like always seems to happen on a run, your body falls into it's natural rhythm, you forget about the pain, and the world gets smaller.  Suddenly all that seems to matter is the few feet surrounding you.  Once this happens all the world seems right.  Also the rest of the night the leg didn't hurt.
     However, getting out of bed this morning the leg was once again stiff and tender.  A coworker saw me limping around on it, this coworker also witnessed the accident at the dairy the other day, and suggested that maybe there is a hairline fracture in the leg, and that maybe we should X-ray it.
     This I politely declined.  Explaining that if I find out for sure that there is a crack in the leg, then I'll feel obligated to quit running on it.  Whereas I don't know, I don't mind running on it, especially if it loosens up during the run, and makes me feel better later.  One of our receptionists over heard the exchange and said "Mike, you know you could really hurt yourself with that kind of attitude."  To which I responded "Well, I did just recently sign up for a Marathon, so seriously hurting myself seems inevitable already."
   

An ill advised bet?

My beloved CSU Rams were defeated in the 2014 Las Vegas bowl by the University of Utah.  So being the good sport that I am, I sent a text message to a long time friend of mine (and a proud Utah Alum), congratulating him on the win.  He quickly wrote back, and suggested that we should run the 2015 SLC Marathon together to mourn/celebrate.
     Being the sucker that I am, I went home and immediately started running again.  It had been approximately a month and a half since I'd last run (I'd run a half marathon shortly before the layoff), but was nearly maimed in a hydraulic chute accident and had been to sore to run.
     Just before the deadline to sign up for the race, I plunked my money down, and made it official.  I'm now 2 weeks in to the 4 month training program.  My left achilles is already flaring up, as well as the plantar fascia in my left foot.  I'm hoping to be able to complete this thing with my buddy.  But so far my body is not cooperating.  I'm hoping that the fact that I'll be running slower, to stay with my friend, and not trying to qualify for Boston in this race, will be able to keep me healthy.

Getting Old

Well another birthday has come and gone.  They seem to come more frequently the older I get.  Today was a work day, but my wife and kids managed to make it a memorable day for me.  I got up and was dressed and getting ready for the day, when my oldest daughter still in her jammies saw me and commanded me to go back to bed because she wanted to bring me breakfast in bed.  So I dutifully climbed back into bed fully dressed so that she could bring me breakfast.
     Her mother had purchased some of that pre-cooked bacon at the store that you can just microwave.  My oldest daughter thought this was great, because she was able to cook me bacon.  She brought me three slices, and two slices of toast.  My three year old son promptly climbed into my lap, at all three slices of bacon, and one of the slices of toast. 
     At work today, I received one of the greatest gifts imaginable, a gift that keeps on giving.  One of my coworkers accidentally hit me with a branding iron.  Why is this great you ask?  Because now that I carry his brand, I believe he's legally obligated to feed and care for me.
    After work I stopped at the gas station to get a can of gas to fill up our new riding lawn mower.  My son has been pestering me for days now because he wants to ride the "tractor."  I figured what could be more fun than "riding the tractor" with my son for my birthday.  So we took it for a spin.
     I even managed to fit in a birthday run, I made it one tenth of a mile for each year I've been alive.  It was a short run of 3.8 miles, but at least it was a run.
     Of course we had to open presents, and eat cake, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed.  Then tucked my precious angels into bed and let the two oldest read to me.  They're getting pretty good.  So even though my breakfast got stolen, I got branded at work, I had to mow the lawn, I punished my out of shape body by running, and I'm a year older.  I look back and think "It's been a pretty darn good day."

A perfect recipe for Plantar fasciitis.

     I ran my first marathon a couple of years.  It was an incredible experience that I really want to repeat.  Unfortunately, after the marathon I didn't take the recovery time I should have, upped my training and intensity level, and ended up with Plantar fasciitis, that has kept me sidelined for way longer than I anticipated it could.
     Well my feet have been feeling pretty good.  So a couple of months ago I'd decided I was going to try to get ready for a Half Marathon in my hometown on May 3rd.  I figured that if I started training for it then, I had plenty of time to slowly increase my mileage and would hopefully be able to finish it without my plantar fasciitis flaring up.
     First it got bitterly cold outside, to cold for me to want to run outside.  Then I managed to break the deck on my treadmill.  After ordering a new one, and installing it I then come down with a terrible cough my kids gave me, and couldn't hardly move without going into a terrible coughing fit.  This sidelined me for another couple weeks.  I was just getting over that when I tried to start running again.  I got a weeks worth of running in, before coming down with strep throat, that sidelined me again.
     By this point I figured what's the use, and gave up on running the Dino Half on May 3rd.  That's when out of the blue a buddy from High School sends me a link to the race, and says "Hey, let's run this together."  He's a really good friend, who lives a long way away, so what was I supposed to do.
     Of course I said "I'm in!", and immediately went to the website and signed up.  So now being the cheapskate that I am, there's no way I'm going to not run it after paying $53.50 for the privilege of running 13.1 miles. 
     So that now gives me 2 months to get ready for thing.  Considering I've basically done no running in several months, I'm afraid my Plantar Fasciitis might very well be in full swing by the time I'm done.  But what the heck, a chance to visit family, run in one of my favorite places, and see a good childhood buddy, it's totally worth it, right?
     So far I did 3.5 miles yesterday, and 4 and a quarter today.  Just another 9 to go.