It's been a while...

A lot has happened since my last update.  There's been an election, we're back in a drought here in SE Texas, the Houston Texans football team is 10-1 on the year. The only thing that is still the same as before?  I am still not running.  Seemingly never-ending struggle with plantar fasciitis.  Now in a boot, will give it a try for about 6 weeks and may then consider surgery.  As a result of not running - and a few other factors - my weight has increased quite a bit, to just under 180 lbs.  The mountain biking helps, but you can't go from running 40 to 50 miles per week to zero, and not expect to gain some weight. 

Kath and spent about 3 weeks in South Africa and Zimbabwe in early November which was great - some photographs etc. to follow soon.  However it meant practically zero chance to exercise, and a lot of delicious food and drink choices...

So before things get totally out of hand, I am reverting to the tried and tested 'No S' Diet:  No Snacks, No Seconds and No Sweets on any day of the week except those starting with an 'S'.  Plus I will be a bit more diligent with my exercise routing, add some rowing in addition to the biking, to up the aerobic exercise volume.  Here we go. 

Last chance for abs

Not having run for nearly 8 weeks now has not helped my waistline.  At 171 I’m 6 pounds heavier  than I was at the end of April.  Something has to be done, as I likely won’t be able to resume a regular running schedule until early August. 

I am still mostly following the ‘No S’ Diet, which is no snacks, no sweets and no seconds on any day except days starting with ‘S’ (Saturday, Sunday and ‘Special’ days such as holidays or birthday).  Lately I’ve been a bit slack on the ‘no snacking’ part of the deal, with a few peanuts and some ‘natural’ pita chips and hummus somehow slipping through the blockade. 

So we will tackle this with a renewed emphasis on sticking to the ‘No S’ rules, watching the consumption even on the weekends, cutting down on the fun calories (candy, wine, beer etc. – you know who you are!) and stepping up alternative exercise.  By that I mean some more walking with the dogs, rowing on the C-2 (boring but effective) and working out with a Personal Trainer 2 to 3 times per week. 

To give this a bit of structure and a tangible goal, I will restart my (by now) almost quixotic search for my long-lost abs.  The one or two of you who have followed this blog from when I first started it a few years ago, may recall a couple of posts on this topic.  To the effect that my abs were last seen in c. 1982 and that they have since proven to be more elusive than the last resting place of Jimmy Hoffa. 

Even at 60 I know I have a few of them left.  They have just become extremely shy after so many years in solitary confinement.  Nothing seems to work to coax them out:  I have tried running, working out, boxing, rowing, Swiss exercise balls, barbells and dumbbells, medicine balls and rubber bands. 

So I am giving my abs one last best chance to see the light of day and join the 21^st century.  Everyone enjoys their 15 minutes of fame nowadays, so maybe that will work.  They are going to hate it at first as they are clearly not ready for prime-time yet, but here goes.

 

Update

It's been all quiet on the blogging front mostly because of  my plantar fasciitis.  No running equals no enthusiasm to put pen to paper about much of anything.  After literally months - actually more than a year - of struggling with the PF we seem to have turned things around.  Once I started to sleep with a Strassburg Sock on my left foot and wearing orthopedic flipflops instead of going barefoot around the house, the PF is just about under control, probably 90% healed.  Treatment also included 2 cortisone shots, lots of stretching and icing and - no running.  I hope to be back running by the beginning of August. 

Rwanda and Uganda trip

A lot has happened since my last post.

 

Kathy ran and successfully completed the Boston Marathon so she has her medal and very happy about that.  It was quite an ordeal being very hot (record high temperature in Boston on the day of the marathon) and she suffered pretty badly from heat exhaustion and (suspected) hyponatremia.  Actually ended up in the emergency room the night after the marathon.  A story unto itself but all is well that ends well...

Just days after we got back from Boson, I was off to East Africa on a familiarization trip with The Far Horizons, based in Kampala Uganda. Great people - really enjoyed working with them and traveling with a small group of other agents and tour operators from Mexico, the USA, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa and Kenya.  

Why Uganda and Rwanda?  Rwanda stirs up lots of questions about genocide and internecine strife, while Uganda is still suffering from the damage done to its image by the despot Idi Amin.  The country was also unfairly the victim of more recent bad publicity surrounding Charles Koni - who has not been in Uganda for many many years.  

Well, the answer is that both Rwanda and Uganda have moved on from those years.  Uganda and Rwanda are very stable and safe countries to travel in; there is a high level of visible security in the urban areas (police and military) and even in the remote rural areas there are regular and on-going military patrols. This was clearly to be seen in the Volcanoes National Park area of Rwanda, and also at Bwindi in Uganda.  Kampala itself is to be avoided simply because it is messy and dirty with bad traffic congestion, but no real reason to stay there: first night could be at The Boma Guesthouse in Entebbe and then move on from there to either Murchison Falls or the western part of the country.  Kigali is clean, modern and actually quite an inviting place to spend a day or two, I would certainly recommend that clients visit the Genocide Museum, very impactful. 

Here is a brief summary of my familiarization trip with The Far Horizons. Also here is the link to Part 1 (of 2) of my Uganda and Rwanda trip report; Part 2 being written. 

http://www.fisheaglesafaris.com/URTrip2012p1.html

There are also links to Flickr where most of the pics have been uploaded with captions, in 4 categories. 
Among the highlights were our stay at Murchison Falls NP and in Queen Elizabeth National Park, particularly the Kasinga Channel boat trip - awesome with lots of birds and plenty of other stuff as well (elephant, buffalo, hippo, crocs etc.). Excellent game drive in the Ishasha region as well although we missed out on the tree-climbing lions (our trip was too short). They are there; visitors should just spend a bit more time than we did!

Of course the primary reason for going to Uganda is the abundance of apes and monkeys: we had some superb chimp sightings in Budongo Forest Reserve, which made up for the Kibale Forest chimp trek which turned out to be rather unsatisfactory with the chimps mostly way up in the trees and moving around.

The gorilla trek in Uganda was good if somewhat tricky: very steep slope, not for everybody! Can't do it without good walking boots. We got very close to the gorillas but photography was difficult: they kept turning their backs on us or dodging behind the vegetation - inadvertently one assumes. I did not have the right photo equipment for a gorilla trek. My 200-400 zoom lens was too much glass and too heavy; I could barely pick it up towards the end. The ideal lens would be a 70-200mm 2.8: will have to get one of those before the next time! Or maybe a 100-400mm zoom.

The gorilla trek on the Rwanda side (Volcanoes NP) was easier although not by much - quite a long walk with some pretty rough spots towards the end, close to where the gorillas were. This time the gorilla family was in a wide open area and I would have gotten some great shots if the weather played along. That didn't happen: it started to pour just minutes before we got to the gorillas and never let up, in fact it got worse. I took a couple of quick shots and then packed my camera and lens away; I did not want to risk potential serious damage to the camera and/or lenses - just too much water around. I am still finding damp money in my wallet.

We did several other fun/interesting activities including a mongoose trek, a long hike through Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, a couple of cultural excursions, and spent one night each at some fine lodges. A few of them have their limitations, might not appeal to everybody - but what they may lack in luxury they make up for in location. Without exception, we bumped into consistently friendly people everywhere.

In summary I would say the best reasons to visit Uganda and Rwanda are the apes and monkeys with chimps and gorillas at the top of the list; scenic beauty; and then wildlife (mammals, reptiles, birds etc). The people and cultural experiences also rate very highly in my book - some of my most memorable moments were all about connecting with people while running or on activities.

For anyone with more than a passing interest in birds and birding, both Uganda and Rwanda are loaded with spectacular and in many cases endemic or near-endemic species, and notably the rare and exotic Shoebill.

Here is a link to some of my photographs:

Uganda/Rwanda Birds

Uganda/Rwanda People and Culture

Uganda/Rwanda Wildlife and Nature

Uganda/Rwanda Apes and Monkeys

Uganda/Rwanda Camps and Lodges

 

600 miles for the year to date

Probably the earliest in the year - ever - that I have reached the 600 mile mark.  This works out at an average of 6 miles for every day of the year to date.  In reality it means quite a few days of around 8 miles per day and several longer runs as well.  The high mileage is starting to pay off with faster times - it has been a while since I was able to maintain a pace of under 7:30 for a 5k+ race.

Looking forward to average pace dropping more with increased weight loss.  New age group is looming - just more than a month away - and I definitely want to be close to sub-7 minute pace by the time the 4th of July race - we always do the Run Wild race at Uptown Park - rolls around. 

Injury update:  the plantar fasciitis is not as bothersome as previously - with regular icing and stretching it is manageable and it hasn't gotten any worse.  I am now using Superfeet inserts in my running shoes; hopefully that will slowly resolve the issue.  It didn't happen overnight, so it will probably take a while to heal.  

Four the Park Race @ Memorial Park, Houston

Kathy and myself, a bunch of our Striders running friends and about 2,250 other people showed up yesterday morning for the 4th running of the '4 the Park' 4-mile run, capably organized by the Memorial Park Conservancy.  This year, more than ever before, the race proceeds are going to be used to replant Memorial Park where thousands of trees have died due to the 2011 drought.  The record number of participants had a great time - I know Kathleen and I did as we both scored age-group placings, second and third respectively in the 55-59 age group.  Many of the other Striders went home with age-group wins and places as well. 

The race is fast and mostly flat, including a  loop inside Memorial Park forest as well as a long and rather hot and sunny out and back on Memorial Drive itself.  If I had any criticism I would say the race could have been started at least one hour earlier.  When we first got to the Park at 7:00A running conditions were near perfect.  By 8:30A - not so much. 

As previously the Conservancy came up with a nicely designed race shirt, this time a dark blue technical t-shirt.  The post running party lived up to its reputation as being one of the best in Houston.  Runners had their choice of a bunch of food and drink options including the following:

• Middle Sister wines
• Michelob Ultra Lite beer
• Creative Crepes
• Firkin & Phoenix banana and strawberry crepes
• Lemon and chocolate Bundt Cakes
• Izkali Tequila 
• El Rey Restaurant breakfast tacos

And many more!

Not to mention a lively 4-piece band on a huge stage!  

I was hoping to end in the top 5 runners in my age category and did slightly better than that with a third place finish at 29:55, about 7:28 pace.  After a relatively easy start I was a little over a mile into the race before my heart rate settled down at around 155 bpm.  By then we were hammering it along Memorial Drive in the east bound lanes.  Once we turned around at Crestwood, I started getting fatigued and the heart rate reflected it, increasing to around 160 and briefly reaching 166.  Maintaining around 160 bpm but slowing somewhat over the second half, I hung on to third in my age group, finishing just 2 seconds ahead of a competitor.  With some additional weight loss I should be able to get my mile pace down to under 7:00 for a race of this distance, so watch this spot!

My 'No S' Diet*** is going well; no further weight loss so far this week but easy to see why: I have more than halved my weekly running mileage, so burning hundreds of calories less on a daily basis.  Ergo no weight loss.  Yesterday (Saturday) was a bit of a blow-out; following on the Run 4 the Park I ate quite a lot of junk and indulged in a variety of beverages, both alcoholic and not.  Later in the day Kath and I went to The Counter, a custom hamburger joint in The Heights, where we each had half a veggie burger - they were massive! - as well as some onion rings and stringy fries.  We celebrated our running success with some delicious vegan chocolate cake.  I took full advantage of the 'S' day sweet allowance and snacking privileges!

***No snacks, no sweets, no seconds, except on Days starting with 'S' (Saturday, Sundays and Special Days such as birthdays & holidays).  No exceptions.

2012 Texas Independence Relay

I had absolutely the best time on the Texas Independence Relay with Steve Shepard’s Westside Occasionals lats weekend. Met some interesting new people, got to know some others better and re-learnt lessons about the volatile mix of speed, distance – and heat. Amazed and delighted by all the young people – women in particular – participating in this grueling event.

The organization/logistics were flawless and the vehicles - a couple of sleek and powerful Suburbans - were fantastic! The real luxury was being able to spend some time resting up at the Shepards' home on Saturday night - it made a huge difference for me personally compared with my previous experience.  I actually had something left for the first 4-mile run on Sunday morning - which turned out to be the best one of the lot, notching no less than 12 'road kills', i.e. catching up to other runners who presumably started before we did.  Nobody passed me on that leg either!

Every member of our time was affected by the unseasonably warm weather: by mid-afternoon on Saturday the temperatures were in the mid 80's Fahrenheit!  Combine that with some nasty hills and you get a very unfriendly running environment. Even so we did very well, finishing in about 27 hrs and 40 minutes, well ahead of our competition in the 'Mixed Veterans' category.

I really enjoyed meeting several new people including Elias, Larry, Rob and Cyndie and Marie, and getting together with some other members of the team whom I had run with previously.  It was particularly good to get to know David Rushing a bit better - what a nice guy; he even finished my last 3-mile run - which was a killer as my legs were shot - with me.

It would be great to go for the Mixed Veteran team record next year, hopefully when weather conditions are a bit more favorable!  

Some pics to follow.