Ragnar Relay, Part II: Best-Laid Plans

Here's the second installment of my Ragnar Relay recap. If you missed the first one, scroll down or click here:

Ragnar Relay, Part II

Once Jorge finished his first run late Friday night, a brisk 8.6-miler he ran in about 1 hour 15 minutes, Van Two was done for a bit. After seven hours and 44 miles worth of running, we felt we sort of deserved a break. However, Van One's runs weren't nearly as long as ours. Their second legs were somewhere around a total of 25 miles, so we were not going to be able to get much rest.

But we needed it. Our next set of runs were supposed to start between 1-2 a.m., which means we likely weren't going get any sleep at all until Saturday morning, after the sun had come up.While not all of us were tired enough to hit the sack, we all were thinking about the early-morning runs and figured we might as well get some sleep while we could.

We set out from Exchange Point 12 and headed over to Exchange Point 18. Along the way, I tried to close my eyes and get some sort of rest. I dozed off, as before I knew it I was lifting my head up and trying to figure out where we were.

Exchange Point 18 was on the edge of Lake Mead. There were marinas all around us, and on a normal day the only people who likely would gather there would have been boaters, as well as water- and jet-skiers. But us runners took over as there were a lot of cars and a lot of people there, and I suspected many were in the same position as us, trying to figure out how to sleep.

Some had. Off to the side of the parking lots were runners snuggled up in sleeping bags, crashed out on whatever patch of dirt they could find. Presumably, they were getting some rest.

I made a mental note.

Supposedly there was food there, some sort of pasta or pizza. I was hungry but still had not shaken off my sleepiness. I embraced that. I wanted to sleep, needed to sleep, so as most of Van Two headed over for some food, I tried to get some sleep in the van. I tried to sleep sideways but couldn't extend my legs. I leaned on the door and tried to stretch my legs in a different position but could not get comfortable. I was growing frustrated.

The other Tortoises came back, opened doors, made noise and I decided my efforts were fruitless after all. The pasta was either a rumor or long eaten as there was none anywhere, so the group dug into some tasty chicken salad that we'd brought along. I decided at that point that food and replenishing my body was just as important as sleep, so I chowed down.

After eating, I mentioned to Jorge that I should have brought a sleeping bag.

"We have some in the van."

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

I grabbed a bag, unzipped it, rolled it out and made a place to sleep on the rocks and gravel next to our parking spot.

I wasn't comfortable at first. No, not comfortable at all. Had to get some rocks out of the way and dig a little niche in the ground with my hip in order to clear out some rocks. My aunt propped me up with a towel and before I knew it I was fast asleep.

It was not a long sleep, not a particularly comfortable sleep either, but it was sleep nevertheless and after about an hour or 90 minutes of sleep, I felt refreshed and ready to go.

Before we knew it, Jon was back at the next Exchange Point, waiting for his turn to start. This time, though, it'd be a bit different. We weren't going to be able to leap-frog him because his run was entirely on trails. Instead, we went up ahead to the next exchange point, and six miles later he completed a run he said was worth the entire trip. I wasn't as fortunate to run on the trails but apparently the lack of roads, of civilization, just the runner and nature under a cloud of darkness was awe-inspiring.

Alex took off afterward, and part of his run was on a trail that ran alongside the road. He recovered from his challenging 8.6-miler and did well to complete his run, a 3.6-miler that started at roughly 2:30 a.m.

Once he was done, it was supposed to have been Jesse's turn but his knee was still bothering him. He was trying to remain positive but he was a bit quiet and was disappointed. He said the run he'd been looking forward to the most was this one, this middle-of-the-night run. Instead, Jorge ran it for him, a four-miler. Elvia then ran her second run, a 3.1-mile run that was partly on trails, partly on the street.

Now, part of the Ragnar Relay was challenging because of the conditions, but another part of the race was challenging because we were trying to navigate through towns and roads unfamiliar to us. We were in Henderson, Nevada, a place none of us knew at all. And we got lost. Elvia got to her Exchange Point before we did, and in fact called me from there. She had taken her phone because she was worried about not navigating the trails properly. Instead, she needed it because we weren't there.

Of course, this completely unsettled me. I snipped at my teammates, complained that we had wasted time back at the other Exchange Point and now I didn't have adequate time to prepare. I was upset as I started my 5.9-mile run around 4:30 a.m., and for the first mile or so tried to not let it bother me.

I noticed far ahead a helicopter shining lights down on some part of Henderson but didn't really think much of it.

I turned onto the street I needed to take. This path was easy, actually. Run up for about 1.5 miles, make a right and run the rest of the way on that street, on Horizon Ridge Parkway. But about four miles in, a police officer had blocked the street ahead of us and diverted me to the right. I asked him where I needed to go, and he said to make a left on Gibson.

I continued along, tried to focus on my run. I wasn't really upset that we couldn't go the way we needed to go and just hoped that everything was okay.

I ended up running down some residential areas, next to a freeway and finally saw Gibson. I made a left and noticed that the street was a long, uphill climb. I checked The Garmin and saw that my mileage was quickly climbing towards six miles. I got up to Horizon Ridge Parkway, made a right and was back on course. I saw the Exchange Point up ahead and got in after running 6.76 miles, about three-quarters of a mile longer than I'd anticipated running.

I felt good about my run but as soon as I got there, our driver Fausto (who was originally supposed to have run the race with us) asked me if I knew why we'd been diverted. I said no, and he said: "Go rest up and I'll fill you in."

A rock sank into my stomach. I knew something bad had happened, just with the tone of his voice.

"A runner was killed by a drunk driver."

My chest still heaving from the run, I was in shock. Tears immediately filled my eyes, and I was unable to say anything.

While the Ragnar Relay was supposed to have been challenging, it was never supposed to have been deadly. But here we were, facing the sobering reality of the situation. We really didn't know much more details than that. There was a bit of a subdued ambience in the parking lot there amongst all the participants. I wondered who the runner was, if I'd run next to him/her before, if we had crossed paths during the race. This was, after all, a runner who had run Leg 11 with me, presumably.

(A day after the race, we found out that it was a participant who wasn't running at the time but simply handing out water to fellow teammates, although that isn't mentioned in this news report.)

I couldn't help but think that, if circumstances were different, it could easily have been any runner in that position...

But I choked back tears and tried not to focus on the negatives. We tried to get back to the task of seeing our runs through, as difficult as it was. Jorge's last run was a brisk 3.2 miles, and before I knew what happened, we were at the next Exchange Point, with the rest of Van One.

I took my vest off before I had this picture taken, so I didn't look like I was in a long-lost member of Tron. But I'd just run my second run and had run a total of 14.1 miles in the previous 11 hours or so, and physically I felt good.

This time, though, as we faced another brief amount of time before running our third and final set of legs, we didn't just feel like we needed some rest, we needed to get some sleep. And soon. The hard thing, though, was that the sun would come up soon.

And would daylight allow us to get some much-needed sleep?

Ragnar Relay, Part I: A Seven-Hour Orientation

I'm back home now, resting and recovering from the Ragnar Relay. I wanted to share with you my experience but didn't want to try and get everything into one post. So, in the spirit of the relay race, I'm dividing it up into three parts since we all ran three legs.

Ragnar Relay, Part I

We really had no idea what we were getting into. My brother Jesse and I drove out from Riverside early Friday morning, and during our three-hour drive to Las Vegas, we were a bit anxious and excited but there was no way we could have known what was in store for us.

By the time we arrived to the hotel where the rest of our team, the Desert Tortoises, were staying at, Van One had left. They were starting off the relay race and Van Two, of which we were a part of, wasn't going to head out until the early afternoon.

We went out, had breakfast, got our stuff ready, packed our van with our supplies and at around noon exactly, went out to Exchange Point 6. Now, an exchange point is where one runner's leg ends and the other begins, where the runners hand off the bracelet as well as the responsibility to keep the team moving forward.

Exchange Point 6 was where Van One would complete their first set of runs and where we would begin ours. Until we got to that place, the race didn't seem real, as strange as it sounds. I obviously prepared for it, got all my stuff together, trained for it and everything but it just didn't seem real until we were there with other teams, waiting for our first run to commence.


The sun was beating down on us, and while wasn't too hot (the temperatures were in the mid- to -low 80s), it certainly seemed hotter than that. We were prepared for our runs but again, didn't really know what it would be like. Still, we were quickly bonding as a unit.


Of our six runners, five are related. From left to right: Jon, a buddy of my uncle's; uncle Jorge, aunt Elvia, yours truly, brother Jesse and cousin Alex.

We waited for Van One, but their last runner was on the course so we knew we were close to starting. We were eager with anticipation.

Soon, Van One pulled up.
They were in good spirits, excited about having run their legs and waiting for Runner 6 to finish her leg. Soon, our entire team was up at the exchange and waiting for her. She got to the finish line soon enough...

... handed the bracelet off to Jon...

... and off Jon went.
That was it. Our part of the race was underway. It was about 2:15 p.m. on Friday afternoon. We didn't know it then, but we'd be running for seven hours, suffering, cheering, challenging and conquering.

Jon's run was a 5.6-mile run, which was the shortest of any of our first runs. While the sun was warm, it wasn't the hottest part of the day, so he got off easier than our second runner.

We let him run for about 10-15 minutes while we got some stuff from Van One before we took off after him. We saw where he was on the road, stopped just ahead and got out with water. He took some sips of a water bottle and kept along his path. We repeated this "leap-frogging" technique until we got to within a mile of the finish. Then, we went to Exchange Point 7, and it was Alex's turn. Jon pulled into the Exchange Point after about 45 minutes.

And off Alex went.

A little about Alex. He's 15 years old but in good shape. While he doesn't run regularly, he is a very active and determined kid - soccer is his sport of choice. He was the youngest of our entire group. His first and toughest task was to run an 8.6-mile run off the bat. We didn't expect him to run the whole thing in one shot - and he didn't - but we knew he would finish the run. We all had confidence in him and tried to motivate and cheer him on as much as possible.

The only thing that really dampened everyone's spirits was the sun. It was beating down on us by the time Alex took off, roughly about 3 p.m. or so. We leap-frogged him all the way to the end, giving him water to keep him hydrated, providing encouragement and making sure he was okay physically and emotionally.

An hour and 45 minutes later, Alex was pulling into Exchange Point 8.

He'd just completed what I considered the toughest leg of them all, but he paid the price.

When you combine the distance, the conditions of the road (a lot of loose gravel and dust and uneven asphalt along his route) as well as the dry heat of the Nevada desert, it was a grueling, hellish run. But the Ragnar didn't claim Alex. He conquered that part of it.

Jesse, however, wasn't as fortunate. About two miles into his 7.7-mile run, he said he felt a jolt of pain down his knee. He walked briefly, ran, walked, ran and continued this pattern. He insisted on running so we stayed closely on our leap-frogging. However, it was quite clear that he would not be able to finish the run so Jon ran his final three miles for him. Jesse was visibly upset, both over his knee pain and his inability to complete the race, but we all tried to encourage him and gave him some medicine for his knee pain. No shame in getting hurt, we all told him as we tried to keep him in good spirits.

As Jon finished the run, we prepared Elvia for her leg.

A bit about Elvia: she's in her late 30s, a mother of three, and had never run before in her life. Jorge (her brother) got her into running about three months ago, when he told her about the Ragnar Relay. He asked her if she would be willing to train for and participate in this race, and she instantly agreed. She went from not being able to run more than five minutes at once back in July to having the task of running legs of 6.1, 3.3 and 3.1 miles.

She was up for it.

Soon, she was off. Since it was after 5:30 p.m. when she started, she was required to wear a reflective vest and headlamp during her run, which explains her gear.

From the time she started to when she finished - she ran her six miles in about 1 hour, 10 minutes - day turned into night.

All the while she ran, though, I was mentally preparing myself. I was slated for a 7.3-mile run after her, and it was going to start at about 7 p.m. or so. I don't like running in the evenings or at night, but somehow that didn't matter this time. My team needed me, and I needed to do this. Everything else was secondary.

I prepared myself mentally, stretched, filled up my fuel belt, slung my iPod around my arm, taped up my nips, got my Gu ready and took deep breaths. I threw on the vest and headlamp (we had a spare set) and waited for Elvia to finish. I also took some of the markers we'd used to decorate the van to draw some inspriation on myself. On my shins, I drew a pair of Ts (Mrs. LB's name starts with T), on my left calf I drew a Y and on my right calf a K.

Funny, but when you take pictures of yourself wearing a reflective vest at night, you look like you belong in the movie Tron.

When I saw Elvia approaching, I knew it was show time. I couldn't let my team down, couldn't let myself down and knew I had to get through my run. I felt like Jon and Elvia had set a high bar with their runs and Alex had reached deep down to complete his run so I felt like I had to follow suit.

I grabbed the bracelet, slapped it on my wrist and off I went. Running with the headlamp wasn't bad; in fact, it helped because the road we were on would have been pitch black otherwise. We ran this entire course in the Valley of Fire State Park, near Lake Mead, so there weren't too many lights or anything - actually, none at all. The only times I saw lights were when cars passed by.

It was an eerie feeling, but I was enjoying it. When there were no other runners in front of me, and no cars on the road, it was just me and the stars. I was soaking up every second of it, just a magnificent and wonderful experience. It's times like that that I am so grateful I took up running. I could never have experienced something like that otherwise, and I am happy that I didn't cheat myself out of this opportunity just because I wasn't disciplined enough to put down the junk food and get off the couch.

Physically, I felt great during my run. I never felt any discomfort, never felt like I was struggling through any part of it, and remained focused on finishing. With a mile left, there was a sign saying "One Mile to Go" and I knew I was going to finish strong when I saw that.

It was quite motivating to see the Exchange Point, to see Jorge waiting for me to finish, to see the other Desert Tortoises there cheering me on. I was about 50 yards from the finish and I picked up my pace. I couldn't help it. But I heard footsteps. Someone was about to pass me. It actually wouldn't have been the first: about seven runnes passed me on my run but I didn't care. Many of them said "Good luck" or "Great night for a run" or something like that when they sped past. They had their pace, I had mine and that's that.

But when I was clsoe to the finish, my competitive spirit caught up to me. I sped up, felt the other runner speed up too, and then I stepped on it. I was in a dead sprint, running as fast as I could, and got to the finish before he did. I sent Jorge along on his 8.6-mile run. I finished my run of 7.34 miles in 1:11:09. Afterward, I tried to recover.

As I drank some chocolate milk and ate trail mix, Jorge was on our final run and we were trying to all prepare for the end of our first batch of runs.

Jorge sped through his run, finishing in about 1 hour, 15 minutes. He was the strongest runner of the bunch and did well to close out an overall strong effort from Van Two.

Exchange Point 12, where Jorge finished his run, was where we met up with Van One once more. They were waiting to go through their second set of runs. As Jorge passed the bracelet on to David (Runner 1), we felt a great sense of accomplishment. We'd done it. We'd gotten through our first set of runs, and the toughest of any set, without any major problems. Jesse's knee was still giving him fits but he was in good spirits, like the rest of us. About seven hours worth of running, a total of 44 miles, and some camarederie will do that to a team. Van One would hand off the bracelet sometime between 1:30-2 a.m. so we had some down time.

Still, as it approached 10 p.m. we wondered... how are we going to rest?

Its Over

I did it! I finished her Ragnar Relay!

Short story: I ran legs of 7.3, 6.8 and 5.3 miles over a span of 19 hours. Awesome stuff! I thought of my trusty blog readers often.

Long story: you will have to wait, but be patient because I have some great stories to tell.

Sleep Deprived, Part III

Okay, final post. I've set three future posts to hit this blog and the net at roughly the times I was supposed to have run. If all went well, I'm running outside of Sin City right now, getting our team that much closer to the finish line.

I'm probably pretty tired right now. This last run has been the one I'm most concerned about. The weather is supposed to be in the mid-80s at this point, so it's going to be a challenge in that sense. Plus, you know, the whole lack of sleep thing, and that I've already ran about 13 miles by now...

Anyway, here's something that's going to be keeping me company as I run:



The previous two posts that I wrote about being sleep-deprived were the two most sleep-deprived moments of my life. Easily. It was coincidence that they both happened in the same year, about five months from each other. Or were they? Maybe I was young and thought I was a bit invincible about certain things, such as sleep.

As I mentioned before, I used to have a good ability to shake off sleep and maybe this gave me a sense of confidence and a belief that I had a mental edge over sleep. No such edge exists now. Before, though, I used to get past sleep, and used to put myself in positions where I would be operating on very little sleep. Another of those times came in 2002, when we moved to Mexico.

Mrs. LB and I were at a point in our lives where we'd not be any more. She was tired of her job as a reporter and wanted a change. At the time, early 2002, I was working for a soccer web site and making decent money. We didn't have too many bills and we had this great idea about what to do next. We decided to walk out on our apartment since the lease was up at the end of February 2002 and move to Mexico. Why not? An uncle of mine had a house that sat unused in the small town my parents grew up in. I had family that was willing to help and we didn't have any children.

So Mrs. LB quit her job, we did not renew our lease and off we went to Mexico. I was going to drive down there with my dad while Mrs. LB was going to fly there about a day after we were supposed to arrive.

We loaded up our truck with many of our belongings: clothes, books, computer, pictures, things like that. My dad and I decided that we didn't need nor want to stop so we were going to drive right through, a roughly 1600-mile drive without stopping but for gas and food... mostly gas.

I woke up at 2 a.m., said bye to Mrs. LB and went to pick my dad up. He was already awake, and we got in and took off right away. At the time, my dad worked as a long-haul truck driver, so he was used to driving endless hours on lonely highways. I drove first, got us out to Arizona and when we crossed the border about seven hours later, he took over.

We actually got held up at the border for about two hours, which ruined our time, but were on our way soon enough. We crossed into the Mexican state of Sonora, and while that is not the country's biggest state, it certainly seemed as much to us. The Sonoran desert is pretty much like Arizona, except bigger and more desolate. At least it seemed more desolate to us.

We drove another seven hours before we got out of that state. We were alternating every now and then, my dad and I. My dad looked fine - he was a rock of strength back then - and I felt okay as well.

We got past Mazatlan, where Mrs. LB and I would stop on the way back several months later and have a fantastic stay. It was after midnight I believe and my dad and I'd been up for a solid 24 hours at that point.

Shortly afterward, though, I started to doze off. Sleep hit me like a ton of bricks, but I didn't realize it. It felt like I'd just dozed off for 20-30 minutes or so. But we were up on the next city, and it was just before daybreak. We ended up at our destination some six hours later.

It wasn't until our trip back, Mrs. LB and I, that I realized it was a good three and a half hours from the point where I fell asleep to when I woke up. I guess it doesn't really matter how comfortable or uncomfortable you are, if you need to crash, any position will do.

Hopefully that's worked out for me well the last two days.

Sleep Deprived, Part II

Wow. It's early. Very early. I'm still somewhere in Nevada, not in front of my computer. But I didn't want to leave the blog unattended so I am future posting this. It's a couple of days ago from now as I type (flash back to the past!).

Anyway, in my previous post I shared a story about sleep deprivation. I've got another one for you, since I figure I'm pretty sleep-deprived right now and figured I'd pay homage to my previous sleep deprivation moments in my life, well, at least the ones that stick out the most.

Oh yeah, and before I get to the story, here's a song that I'll be listening to as this blog hits the web. The story is beneath:



Now, onto the story:

Fall, 1998: I'd met Mrs. LB at this point but was just transitioning into life as one-half of a couple. I didn't date much before Mrs. LB so it'd been a while since I'd been in a relationship. Anyway, it was mid-October and I was working part-time for a small newspaper in San Bernardino, just starting out in my career as a sports writer.

I was driving around a rental car because my trusty 84 Toyota had been stolen a couple of weeks prior. It was tough, but Mrs. LB was very helpful and supportive. So I had this tiny rental car, basically something with wheels. But it had unlimited mileage, which was a plus. I noticed my NFL team, my beloved Chicago Bears, were playing in Phoenix. Back when the Cardinals played in Tempe, they didn't sell out games very much. So I looked into tickets because the game was within driving distance, and sure enough there were tickets available. I asked my best friend if he'd go with me and he agreed.

I woke up on Saturday, the day before the game in Phoenix, and went through my day as usual. In the early evening, I made my way out to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to cover a game, and a friend went with me, but it was a different friend than the one who was going with me. After the game, he decided that he wanted in, so off we went to get my other friend, and the three of us drove out to Phoenix. I'd had no sleep.

I drove the whole way. Since we were all in our early 20s, I figured that we didn't need a hotel room since we could just turn around and come home after the game. We got into Phoenix at around 6 am Sunday, and I was bushed. I was 22, 23 and still could get through things like extreme fatigue, not like today. I hit the wall, and the first thing that went was my ability to power through fatigue.

So we went to a park because I needed to lay down. I must've slept about an hour, one uncomfortable hour but sleep is sleep. We went out to breakfast and then headed down towards the game.

The stadium was unbelievably hot, and we had nose-bleed seats. I enjoyed the game somewhat (the Bears lost 20-7). I guess had the Bears won, I would have been happy. But the heat, my team's bad showing and fatigue all sort of soured the afternoon.

After the game, we went out to have pizza. It was the worst pizza I've ever had. I'm usually pretty good about pizza, even bad pizza is good, I used to think. But this pizza was just terrible. We left as it was getting dark, probably sometime around 7, and I was again driving.

At the time, I used to take a lot of Vivarin. If you are unfamiliar with that, it's basically caffeine pills, stuff to help shake off drowsiness. It actually worked quite well and I used to use it a lot. The last time I used it, though, was around 2004 or 2005, right before I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. I used to doze off at 9 am and I needed Vivarin to help me stay awake.

Anyway, I popped about two of the Vivarin about 30 minutes into our drive. My buddies were great help as they both were sound asleep around that time. They both, incidentally, promised to stay awake and keep me company.

We crossed back into California and it was getting late. And I was getting tired. So tired. I took another two Vivarins at the border, hoping that would wake me up. At that point, I was going on about one hour of sleep since I'd gotten out of bed on Saturday morning. We got to Palm Springs, about an hour away from our destination, and I was completely bushed. I took three Vivarins as a last-ditch effort to stay awake.

Looking back, I should never have taken as many Vivarins, should never have thought that I could have made it there and back the way we did, and should not have continued driving on the fumes I had. But I was young and relatively dumb about some things, so there I was.

I honestly do not remember the last 30 minutes of the drive. I remember driving past Palm Springs, past Yucaipa and then nothing until we got to Fontana, about 30 minutes past Yucaipa. And I don't mean that time has erased that - I don't remember now but I didn't remember the moment we got off the freeway. Everything was a haze. I wondered how in the heck I'd gotten us back in one piece.

Once out of the car, I was okay. I was a bit jittery as the caffeine had worked to a certain point. I was still tired but not like during the drive. I dropped my other friend off then went home. I got into bed at 12:38 a.m.

And as luck would have it, it took me a while to fall asleep.

Sleep Deprived, Part I

Greetings! No, I'm not actually here. Well, I am somewhere right now, just not in front of my laptop. I'm writing this sometime Thursday and will set this to post at some time Friday... or Saturday maybe. Not sure.

Anyway, without a doubt, I'll be sleep-deprived at some point this weekend. It's almost difficult imagining otherwise.

With the Ragnar Relay, teams of 12 are split among two vans, with six runners per van. That means Van One's runners go through all of their respective runs, then with Runner 7 the other van starts their runs. When Runner 12 hands off to Runner 1, Van Two then takes a break while the other van starts their process over, and so on and so forth.

I'm in Van Two, which means we won't start until the middle of the day on Friday (or... we started earlier today... ugh, future posts). My run is supposed to start at around 7 p.m., right around the time this will hit the blog. I figure I'll be done sometime around 8:15 or so, give or take, and then Runner 12 will probably be done with his 8.8-miler around 9:30 or so, which means we'll have a chance to rest from then until Van One gets done with their respective second legs, which puts us at starting again at around 1:30 a.m. Yikes!

Anyway, I do believe I'll encounter some tired moments, but will they match up with the most sleep-deprived moments I've ever had in my life?

What are those moments I've experienced in which I was suffering from lack of sleep? There have been a few. Here's one I remember vividly.

Spring, 1998: I was in college at the time, the sports editor of my junior college newspaper. We put out an issue every two weeks and usually the night we went to print was a long night. Journalists are notorious for working right up to their deadlines (a habit I haven't yet grown out of), so usually we were stressing to get everything done. And there was a lot to do: stories to finish writing, headlines to write, pages to lay out, etc.

I don't know why but this particular night was long for us all. We weren't stressed or anything, just staying up late on a Wednesday night to do what needed to be done. It was 10 p.m. and we were laying out the section, midnight and doing the same, 2 a.m. and not quite done yet, 3 a.m. and we were close, 4 a.m. and we were about done.

At the time, I worked part time on weekends so I didn't have work the next morning. But I was a volunteer mentor at an elementary school at the time, and I needed to be at the fifth-grade classroom where I volunteered at in the morning. Early. Like at about 8 a.m. Usually I'd take my brother to school first and then head out from there, and that meant leaving the house at around 7:00, 7:10 at the latest. I was awake, felt awake despite it being after 4 in the morning. I headed home and got there at around 4:45 or so. I really didn't like the idea of sleeping for about an hour and then having to wake up, so I just stayed up. I played some video games and felt pretty good. It was about 6 a.m. when my brother woke up and I recounted to him the night's events.

I didn't really feel tired despite not sleeping at all for more than 24 hours. I dropped him off, went to my school and met up with the students who were assigned to me.

It was probably around 10 a.m. that I started to feel tired. But it wasn't the sort of Oh-man-I-could-use-a-nap tired. It was the holy-crap-I-need-to-lay-down-NOW variety. My eyes were heavy, as I had 50-pound dumbells clipped on my eyelids. My mouth was dry and my head started to hurt. I figured I could make it to lunchtime and then I would go lay down in my car.

I was helping out one of my students with his math. I remember him clearly. His name was Benjamin. He was short and had thick black hair. He was a bit of a slow reader, needed extra help with math but was generally an easy-going kid, except he could be very stubborn. We were working on fractions, which were difficult for him. I was helping him out, but suddenly everything started to fade. I kept talking but my mouth was on the other side of the room from my head. I could hear myself talking but I didn't know what I was saying, nor did I really have any control over it either.

I snapped to when I heard myself talking about radians and degrees. Fractions, as you probably know, have numerators and denominators, not radians and degrees. No, you would find those in trigonometry, a class I was taking at the time. I shook my head, rubbed my eyes and asked Benjamin "I'm not making any sense, am I?" He had a half-quizzical, half-worried look on his face and quickly shook his head. I told him that I needed to go lay down.

I went out to my car, got in the driver's seat and crashed. I slept hard, for about an hour, until discomfort in my neck woke me up. I was still in a bit of a fog when I came to, but it was around lunchtime and I had vanished for an hour after all, so I had to get back to my volunteer duties. Not exactly refreshed but recovered nonetheless.

And since you've made it this far into my post, I'll leave you with some parting music. This is a song that I'm listening to while I run.

Death Valley Queen by Flogging Molly



Cheers! See you soon!

Friday Leftovers (Oct. 9)

As I head out to Nevada for the Ragnar Relay, here are some of the leftover thoughts from my week.

Word Association

This week's Word Association.

1. Yacht :: Boat
2. Paula :: Abdul
3. Delete :: Erase
4. Auto :: Mechanic
5. Obsolete :: Useless
6. Dedicated :: Committed
7. Old :: Fool
8. Convince :: Persuade
9. Poster :: Child
10. Erase :: Mark

Nothing out of the ordinary. No subliminal messages I'm trying to send to myself, though I'm not sure I've called anyone an "old fool" lately.

Long Beach Marathon

Sunday is the running the Long Beach Marathon, the one I briefly flirted with before ultimately deciding on the Ragnar Relay.

Anyway, I would be remiss if I didn't give a shout of support to my blog buddy and fellow Loper Angie Eats Peace. Angie joined the Lopers in 2008, ran her first marathon in February of this year (the 2009 Surf City USA) and Sunday will be her third marathon. She's an inspiration for certain, and I'm excited for her.

School Start Daze

Next school year will be monumental. Kennedy will start kindergarten next year, and Mrs. LB and I will officially begin a long life of having both of our daughters - ie all of our children - in school.

But when that year will begin remains to be seen.

Earlier this week, we got notice from our local school district about three possible drafts for next school year. You see, our school district has always started school the week of Labor Day. This year, that was on Sept. 10 as Labor Day was on the 7th. The drawback with that is that school won't let out this year until June 23, and I'm not exactly crazy about that. Apparently I wasn't the only parent who wasn't feeling this journey into summer.

Hence the need for a possible change.

The first one has the school year starting as it always has, on Sept. 9, the Thursday after Labor Day and letting out on June 24, 2011.

The second one has school starting a bit earlier, on Aug. 24 and letting out on June 9.

The third one is probably the most drastic, as school would start on Aug. 11 and let out on May 26.

I'm torn. Of course, it's not my decision but I might be willing to have school start early if it means they get out early. The May 26 end date is appealing. We'd have all of June and all of July off, that's June/July 2011. That would be much better than this year, when Yvie didnt' get out of school until June 18, and it'll be worse in 2010.

But Aug. 11 would be awfully early. That would mean Yvie would have about six weeks of summer vacation, and while she likes school and everything - she was begging for school to start so she could go to first grade - I'm not sure that would leave a lot of time for family vacations. But then again I might be in South Africa next June so I might prefer a quiet summer at home after that.

What will the district decide? Unfortunately, we won't know for a while. Well, they might decide something soon but the info may not make it to parents for a while after that. Stay tuned.

Nippin' Out

Guess what this is?

This is the inside of my Lopers shirt. Yes, we run in pink and yes, I've been running in pink for months now. I'll have to take a picture of myself with my pink running shirt on sometime soon.

Anyway, the stain you see on there is blood. It's courtesy of my nipple, and this is just another part of my neverending saga.

What happened a week ago was that I couldn't find the one thing that has worked for me thus far. I couldn't find the medical tape that I used successfully for my 11-mile run two weeks ago. And I didn't have my Body Glide, so I had to tough it out. I did, and it wasn't too bad. I "only" had a little bit of blood after my run. If you look closely on the far left of the picture, you'll see another tiny spot of blood.

So after I showered on Sunday, we went out to the zoo. The last thing I wanted to do was to walk around with tender nipples all day so I put on some band aids.

It worked, but it had a price.

There's some tiny bald spots on my chest. Luckily only my wife and daughters see me without my shirt on :)

Oh yeah, and TG I'd be happy to try out your suggestion. My e-mail address is buenodad at gmail dot com. Gracias!

Ragnar Tidbits

In the spirit of Friday morning's post, I figured I'd do a tidbit of last-minute Ragnar Relay items as I prepare to head out to Las Vegas.

I'm going to leave early Friday morning, meet up with the other members of the super-awesome Van 2, and then from there prepare for our runs. Four runners from Van 2 will run before I do (Runners 6-10) so I'll be actively pulling for them while trying to stay calm for my own run at the same time.

Anyway, on to the late tidbits:

Final Playlist

Here is what music I've decided on to help me through the third and final leg.

For me, the heavy artillery is Metallica and Johnny Cash for the most part; some other scattered stuff as well. Yellow Submarine is for my girls, and the Cirque de Soleil song for Mrs. LB, since that was from the OVO show we saw in Montreal. I'm actually not sure if I'll make it that long into this particular playlist so I might move it up.

I'm trying out Lodi for the first time since I just put it on my iPod this week, even though I've had that CD for more than a decade. That's a great song. I've been to Lodi too... but the song's better than the town :)

Gu Delight

I picked up five energy gels a week ago from my local sporting goods store. Three remain.

The two that were used were a strawberry-flavored Gu packet and a package of Sport Beans. The Gu was my first venture into energy gels as I used it during last week's 12-miler. It worked great! I squirted the Gu into my mouth somewhere around Mile 5 and I didn't feel any negative effects. I actually didn't really feel a whole lot to be honest but that's the point. I maintained my strength during the whole run and felt great afterward. The Gu helped me maintain my energy. One of my running partners said to use them every four miles or so (on our pace, that would put us around the 45-minute mark or so) but since I only took one with me, I saved it for the hour mark of our run. I think it was like 55 minutes or so, can't remember.

Anyway, I figured I'd pick up the Clif gel too since I might as well try them all to see which ones I like. I did not like the Sport Beans very much. The flavor was okay but it was the texture that really did not sit well with me. Sport Beans are essentially jellybeans, and when I used them it felt like I was eating candy during my run. That might not necessarily be a bad thing but it was chewy and kind of stuck to my teeth because of it. I probably won't be getting those again.

I'm going to Gu up on my 7-miler Friday evening, and probably during Saturday's run too. My middle-of-the-night run is five miles and I might use a gel packet as well, depending on how I feel.

(Note: Since I took that picture, I've added more Gu to that stash as I know have nine packets now. I will take them all with me this weekend but I'm not planning on using them all, but some of my fellow runners may need some.)

Ragnar Relay Checklist

I'm such a dork sometimes. I forgot to put my fuel belt on my list of things to take with me out to the race. Duh!

Here's the updated list (with Xs for things that are already packed):

x - running shoes
x - socks (3 pairs)
x - running shirts (3)
x - running shorts (3)
x - workout undies (2)
x - sandals
x - post-race shorts (1)
x - post-race shirt (1)
x - sunglasses
x - Garmin
x - iPod
x - band-aids
x - medical tape
x - Aleve pain reliever
x - Gatorade (2 bottles)
x - Body Glide
x - Gu (5-8 packages)
x - trail mix
x - extra bag for dirty clothes
x - pasta salad
x - apples
x - cameras (w/memory card)
x - foam roller
x - fuel belt

Well, looks like I'm all set! Now I just have to try and get a good night's sleep, get up early and head out to Nevada.

I'm not going to leave the blog unattended. I've got some posts set to go while I'm gone, thanks to the wonders of future posting. So keep checking the blog back for some posts.

Disneyland Pumpkins, Part I

A week ago, I posted some pictures from the carved pumpkins at Disneyland, the ones from 2008 anyway. I've since been there twice and have taken many pictures of the carved pumpkins there. I wanted to share about half of the batch now and I might post the second batch maybe later today or some time this weekend. Perhaps the carved pumpkins will keep you company while I'm in Nevada.

Anyway, all of these pumpkins are absolutely fantastic. The pumpkin-carvers (if you can call them that) are amazing. It's one thing to carve a pumpkin, but another thing to give it life. And most of the carved pumpkins out at Disneyland have lives of their won.

***

I know I posted this before, in the last Friday Leftover entry, but I just think it's so stinking awesome! Can't get enough of this!
___
The quality of this picture is kinda crappy but I'm sure you can tell who that is even if the picture is a bit blurry.
_____

I'm not sure who this smiley-faced character is supposed to be. I know, I should probably know this but I don't. Anyone recognize this person?
______
Another one I can't quite place. Maybe if these characters had bodies I could tell who they are.
____
This, however, is Boo from Monsters Inc. Not sure about the picture quality though. Sorry about that, but I haven't found my charger for my good camera. Guess what I'll be doing this morning?
______

Here's Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille, except Remy's not hiding under Linguini's hat. He's bearing it all for the world to see.
___
Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean. With all the tentacles or whatever they are on his chin, I'd have thought this one wouldn't be possible on a pumpkin, but the awesome carvers found a way.
___
Ursula's just as evil-looking on a pumpkin as she is in The Little Mermaid. She's a big, imposing figure and has a smug look on her face, like she's plotting to do something wicked.
___
Not, that's not a real pumpkin but the girls liked it anyway.

Musical Accompaniment

I like my iPod. Even though it's old and there are much better models around, I like my iPod quite a bit. It's been my trusty sidekick from when I weighed 300-plus pounds to now. Save for the Mud Runs and all but one of my runs with the Lopers, it's been by my side for many of my memorable runs.

This weekend will be no exception. While nobody will accompany me during my Ragnar Relay runs, I will have support from my trusty music.

I've gotten two playlists together for my runs. I haven't yet composed one for my third and final run.

Here's the first two:

I have a mix of stuff on there. I didn't go with some of my heavy artillery as I figured I'd save that for the final run, but I have a lot of ammo in that respect so this may change.

The second one:

Alright, see if you can find the theme on the playlist above. I'll give you a second to review.

Those songs, as you'll notice, are in alphabetical order for the most part. I haven't yet organized them because it's a really long playlist and my second run is my shortest so I won't need all of them.

Anyway, those are all songs from the 90s. I have so many songs that I don't even have on my iPod that apparently I've never put on there, such as my entire collection of Stone Temple Pilots and my Nirvana stuff. Maybe because I listened to them so many times it's taken me a decade to not have felt like they were overplayed. I think I could make a marathon playlist with just 90s music. That would be pretty cool. Actually, I could probably just listen to the entire Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness from the Smashing Pumpkins during a really really long run and be fine.

I'll have to figure out what kinds of songs will work best for my third run. Definitely thinking Johnny Cash. Might throw in some Beatles too. I've been listening to the Beatles a lot with the girls. They love Yellow Submarine.

Hmmm... I might even put some of the children's music I have so I can think of my girls while I run. Of course, it'll be stuff that I like, such as anything from the Barenaked Ladies or They Might Be Giants or Dan Zanes, not the Disney Princess collection or... *shudder* Hannah Montana. I can't imagine running to Hoedown Throwdown, no matter how much the girls like that song. I'd rather listen to the sound of my feet hitting the asphalt.

More Awards

I was given some more awards from my blog buddies as Polly from 5thSister and Willoughby from This Stop Willoughby each bestowed upon me the following award.



It's not exactly a, um, manly logo but it's a great award nonetheless. The award comes with a bit of a questionnaire, which you must answer with one-word responses.

So, here goes...

* Where is your cell phone? Table
* Your hair? Bad
* Your mother? Nearby
* Your father? Ill
* Your favorite food? Sopes
* Your dream last night? Vanished
* Your favorite drink? Water
* Your dream/goal? Marathon
* What room are you in? Kitchen
* Your hobby? Running
* Your fear? Unknown
* Where do you want to be in 6 years? Here
* Where were you last night? Home
* Something you aren't? Crafty
* Muffins? Saturday
* Wish list item? Game room
* Where did you grow up? Sticks
* Last thing you did? Played
* What are you wearing? Shorts
* Your TV? Old
* Your pets? Needy
* Your friends? Gone
* Your life? Great
* Your mood? Blah
* Missing someone? No
* Vehicle? Truck
* Something you're not wearing? Socks
* Your favorite store? Grocery
* Your favorite color? Blue
* When was the last time you laughed? Afternoon
* Last time you cried? Painful
* Your best friend? Absent
* One place that I go over and over? Lopers
* One person who emails me regularly? Editor
* Favorite place to eat? Olive Garden

Anyway, thanks to Polly and Willoughby for the honor.

Face Of The Relay

Now that I'm staring into the face of the Ragnar Relay, I figure I might as well show you what that face looks like.

Well, not quite, but almost.

Here's a more accurate description of my three legs (and sorry Tats for the scary-looking Pennywise pic).

That's the first leg. It's leg number 11 because I'm Runner 11 which means I'm running the 11th leg. I'm supposed to run this around 7 p.m. on Friday, give or take. So while you readers on Eastern time are settling into bed or already fast asleep, or maybe coming home from a high school football game, and while the West coasters might be finishing up dinner or sitting down to watch a DVD, I'll be in Middle of Nowhere, Nevada, getting ready for a run.

The elevation is on my side, I think. It's the figure on the bottom there, and it slopes downward for the most part. I anticipate some downhill running, maybe not like a straight drop-off but anything that isn't uphill is nice.

According to Google Maps, this is what the terrain looks like:

The race goes through highways and residential areas, and as far as I can tell the roads are regular roads that are used by people every day. So there are no special roads or trails for us.

Leg Two:

This one will start for me at 4:15 a.m. Saturday morning, about the time some of you will be waking up while others will still be in bed, hopefully with a few more hours of sleep left. This one looks like it will be uphill for the first mile or two and then a downhill shot of a few miles with a bit of rough terrain at the end.

Actually, the exchange point is in an Albertsons parking lot! An exchange point is where one runner slaps the bracelet on the next runner's wrist (we don't use batons in this relay, but rather bracelets).

The tail end of the race might look like this:

This leg will be in Henderson, Nevada, so that town will go alongside Montreal and Mexico City as new places that I've run in this year. The scenery will be much darker during my run, though.

Leg Three:

This is the final and hardest challenge, a 6.3 mile run slated to start at about high noon on Saturday. The weather forecast calls for a high of 85 in Las Vegas on Saturday, and this run will end right outside of Vegas.

The terrain is mostly at a downhill grade, save for the first half-mile or so. All in all, I think I lucked out in terms of terrain. Some other runs are almost all uphill.

A possible snapshot of my run:

A lonely stretch of desert.

So that's what I've got ahead of me this weekend. When will I sleep? I have no clue. I hope I get at least a couple of hours in between runs, but we'll see. I might be walking in a zombified state come the third leg for all I know.

Ragnar Checklist, Part I

This is a fluid post, meant to be changed often.

Ragnar Relay checklist

Things to take with me:
__ running shoes
__ socks (3 pairs)
__ running shirts (3)
__ running shorts (3)
__ workout undies (3)
__ sandals
__ post-race shorts (1)
__ post-race shirt (1)
__ sunglasses
__ Garmin
__ iPod
__ Polar (maybe)
__ band-aids
__ medical tape
__ Aleve pain reliever
__ Gatorade (2-4 bottles)
__ Body Glide
__ Gu (5-8 packages)
__ trail mix
__ extra bag for dirty clothes
__ pasta salad
__ apples
__ camera (w/memory card)


That's it for now. It definitely will change. Stay tuned.

Cooking With Yvie: Baked Penne w/Roasted Veggies

It's a day late but hopefully not a dollar short.

Here is the latest episode of Cooking With Yvie.

In this episode, Yvie shows us how to make Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables. The original recipe is here, but we didn't follow it to a tee. We used Monterey Jack cheese instead of the Fontina/Mozzarella the recipe calls for. It's very good, no matter what kind of cheese you use (we've used the Fontina and Mozzarella before and it was awesome).

Enjoy.

Motivational Mondays (Oct. 5)

Friday... and Saturday... is the Ragnar Relay, and that leaves me but a few days to get all the supplies and equipment I need to take with me in order or purchase them, to figure out the logistics and to dot all the Is and cross all the Ts.

It’s at about this point, though, when I’m wondering ‘What the hell did I get myself into?’

And while I still haven’t exactly answered that question, it is time to get motivated for it nevertheless.

I think before any of my big races I’ve asked myself that question. Actually, when I met with my trainer for the first time back in March 2006, I asked myself that. And when I was making my way towards the start line of my half-marathon, I asked myself that. It’s not really borne of doubt, but I suppose it’s just human nature to feel as if something daunting, something challenging is not something we can do.

It’s easy to take the easy way out. Hit the easy button, as it were. Sometimes, that’s not possible. In fact, anything that’s worth anything is difficult. Nothing is handed to you. You don’t just lose weight by hoping and wanting, and you don’t become a better runner by running 2-3 miles every day.

There comes a time when you must challenge yourself, when you see what the fruits of your labor are.

When I was trying to lose weight, those moments of truth weren’t during my workouts. It was only when I stepped on the scale every month that I was able to see the work I put into things. How much effort did I put into my workouts? How honest was I with myself when it came to my meal plan? How much respect did I have for myself?

Any race I’ve run in, and the Ragnar Relay in many ways will be like this, has been a test of my abilities. But more than that, the races have shown just how much work and dedication I’ve put into it. I like to think that I’m focused and have been focused along my running route, in both my training and the efforts I’ve put into gaining the knowledge necessary to educating myself about running, but all these races really bring that to the forefront.

It’s not just the time of the race either. For instance, I was proud and always will be proud of my half marathon, but I remember feeling completely wiped out after the race, and feeling out of it the rest of the day: I was lightheaded and my muscles ached. Why? Because I hadn’t educated myself properly on running long distances. And I knew that if I was going to go for the full 26.2 that I’d have to better myself on many aspects. So I joined the Lopers.

I’m not concerned about the times of my runs on Friday-Saturday. I want to get my runs in and I want to challenge myself and put all the new things I’ve learned about running into action. I want to become part of a team, want to motivate and cheer and pull for my teammates. And I’m going to have to put what I have to offer as a runner on display for the benefit of myself and others.

Am I up for it?

It’s a test. Only time will tell if I pass or fail.

Late Show

I'm up early this morning. A restless night of sleep from Kennedy caused me to wake up at about 4:25 and I couldn't go back to sleep. Not exactly the kind of wake-up call I was hoping for since I'm going to be running 12 miles here soon.

Anyway, this is my last chance to use the computer until tonight so this week's Cooking With Yvie will likely be up late. She made some pasta this week, pasta which I ate to help fuel today's run. I'll let you know how it worked out.

Also, I finally bought some Gu. I also bot Clif shots and the Sport Beans. I tried three beans during Friday's four-miler and they were okay I guess. They tasted just like jellybeans, which is good and bad. It was a strange flavor to have in my mouth during a run. Plus the chewiness of it wasn't the greatest. I was running and chewing and running and chewing and running and chewing... Normally running and chewing isn't a big problem for me but if it's sticky candy chewing, it's just tough.

I'm going for the Gu today.

Between Gu and the pasta, I'm set.

Anyway, check back later for Cooking With Yvie, and thanks for your patience and support.

Friday Leftovers (Oct. 2)

Earlier this week I guest-blogged on This Stop Willoughby and it was a pretty fun experience. To any new readers who have come here from there, I'd just like to say welcome and hope that you add this blog to your reading list.

And now, on to another edition of Friday Leftovers

Word Association

The word association for the week.

1. What Pleases you? :: ice cream
2. Whatever :: say
3. Chime :: bells
4. Pleading :: begging
5. Simulate :: assimilate
6. Flashing :: dancing
7. Directional :: challenged
8. Pink :: rose
9. Access :: hollywood
10. Ugly :: duckling

* Okay, a couple of things. I like ice cream as much as the next person but I'm not sure it's the thing that pleases me the most, nor would it necessarily be in my top 10... or would it? I don't watch tabloid tv shows like Access Hollywood so I have no idea where that one came from. And I am very directionally challenged so that one's on the money. I have no sense of direction. I can't point from my house to the general direction of, say, the grocery store. And we've lived here for three years.

New Blog Buddy

I wanted to share a new blog with you. Sarah has started a blog called the Mother Goose Cupboard where, according to her, she will share her attempts to nourish her family. She's a stay-at-home mother of two girls (ages 6 and 4, two years apart like my own) and lives in Canada (though we won't hold that against her!).

And all the AR folks know her better as goosegreetings.

Anyway, check out the blog if you get a chance!
More New Blogs
Another blog buddy, Lissaloo of One Step At A Time recently bestowed upon me the Beautiful Blog award, for which I am touched.


I enjoy reading her blog as she was one of the first from AR to take the plunge and start a blog, and she's been blogging happily ever since. She recently started a pair new blogs so if you have the chance, check them out.

Krafting With Kids is great but I'm not a "krafty" kind of guy so it would be tough for me to do the things she does on there but I would love to try some of those things, especially because I think my daughters would love doing those things.

Her most recent venture is One Book at a Time. These are her words about the blog: "I am looking forward to many great book discussions with my friends, and anyone else who would like to join us in reading the book of the month. We will be posting our book reviews during the last week of each month and are looking forward to 'discussing' them in the comments section."

So anyway, thanks to Lissaloo for the award and for your support.

Run Antics

One of the pitfalls of running long distances is that you are running for a long time. Last week, we ran 11 miles and it took a little more than two hours. When you go on such long runs, you need to be properly hydrated, and I don't mean just having a fuel belt. You need to be hydrated before you go on the run, otherwise you will pay for it. Last week, I drank my usual 16-ounce bottle of water and a Clif bar, which has become my pre-run fare.

But I'd also drank a lot of water the night before. And I had about a half glass before I left the house in the wee hours of the morning.

Just before we went out on our run, I used the bathroom mostly as a precaution. I didn't want to head out on the run and then realize that I needed to use the bathroom. We run through mostly residential areas of Loma Linda, a mostly quiet community that's best known for its university/medical center.

Anyway, I was going through my usual stages of a long run, trying to not think about the huge distance I was about to undertake, trying to concentrate on the street in front of me and was doing fine. Until about Mile 3. I felt something. An urge. I was puzzled.

Surely you jest.

I had just gone to the bathroom. How could this be possible?

I tried to ignore it, hoping it would go away. In some ways, it was as if my check engine light came on, and I was hoping that by tapping the dash it would vanish. I continued running and hoped it would disappear. I figured that my body was draining its resources so it would have to draw reserves from somewhere, so then the urge might vanish at some point. I've not taken any anatomy classes but I'm sure it doesn't quite work that way.

Soon, I had a chance to relieve the pressure. The group I was running with was small and I was running in the back, not really talking to anyone, so I didn't think anyone would notice if I slipped away for a minute or three.

We'd come up to some sort of school or something, and there were dumpsters in the back of it. We ran through the parking lot and past the dumpsters. There were no runners behind me, far as I could tell, and the rest of the 11-minute pace group was dashing up ahead.

But I panicked. Would I really be doing this, right here? What if someone came out from the school? I didn't see any cars but what if someone was there anyway? Nevermind the mess...

I hemmed and hawed a moment too long, because before I knew it, I saw a large group of runners, not my pace group, and they'd be in plain sight of the dumpsters soon. Not going to happen.

It was about Mile 4 at that point. I decided that I'd just keep running and maybe my body would be able to suppress it since I was running and putting strain on my body after all. Mile 5 came and went, Mile 6, Mile 7 and we were heading into Mile 8. The whole time, though, I realized my body wasn't suppressing anything. Now, I was going through a long run and my body was feeling the effects of it, so I wasn't totally focused on my bladder but it was a bit of a dull aching pain nevertheless.

We got to a street that was lined with trees. Orange trees I think. It was about a half-mile worth of them, and on the other side of the street was the back side of a housing development, covered by walls and trees which actually sloped downward so the street wasn't visible to those houses. The only problem was the orange trees were fenced off. The perfect hidden spot, blocked by a chain link fence.

I had already decided, though, to just tough it out until I was done. I'd had my chance and squandered it, so too bad.

Still, I was running behind the crowd. The few people I'd talked to were ahead of me. Nobody from my group was behind me. If it wasn't for that fence...

But then, I saw it. I saw an opening. There were many trees up ahead, orange trees, big ones that had lots of branches and green leaves and oranges. And there was no fence blocking them.

Screw it, I had my chance. I sprinted across the street, gave one quick glance behind me to see if there was anyone right behind me and disappeared into the trees. One glorious minute later, I was back on the road, adjusting my fuel belt, feeling re-energized for the final push.

I could concentrate on my running again.

Carved Pumpkins

Okay, so I have some more shots of pumpkins from Disneyland to show you and I was going to wait until next week to post more stuff but I can't wait so I'm going to post one right now.

It's totally freakin' awesome.

Seriously, how did they do that?!?

If you aren't familiar with them, those are the two main characters from Up.

Fantastic.

Life Changing Date

Six years ago today, our lives changed forever.

Mrs. LB was pregnant with our first child, and while we knew things were going to be different, we had no idea how different they would become. We had been married more than four years at that point and had enjoyed life as a married, childless couple. We'd done some traveling and had changed a few jobs but mostly we enjoyed those carefree days because we were only responsible for ourselves. We went to the movies a lot. We ate out a lot. We slept in on the weekends.

But in January of '03, Mrs. LB was sick. Very sick. Throwing up sick. For a Christmas present to Mrs. LB, I'd arranged a weekend stay in Ensenada, Mexico, for us and we were both looking forward to it. That entire weekend, though, was spent with her throwing up and unable to move and function, so I spent most of the time watching TV.

We soon found out upon returning that she was indeed pregnant. We'd been sorta trying to start a family but hadn't had much luck. Until then. The rest of 2003 then seemed like a countdown. It would be the end of one part of our lives and the beginning of another.

As the year grew on, we were anxious to find out the gender, but several ultrasounds showed nothing. I don't remember if one of the ultrasound techs told us that we could be having a girl or I got it stuck in my head because I wanted a girl very badly, but we kind of assumed that we'd be having a girl. Both Mrs. LB and I have three brothers and no sisters, so a girl would have been special.

The due date came and went, and changed. First, it was Sept. 12. Then, it was Sept. 26. Finally, on Sept. 30 our doctor told us that the baby was in the breech position, and a natural delivery would not be possible. So Mrs. LB would have to deliver via C-section. He scheduled us for an appointment on Oct. 1, 2003. Now, up until this point, Mrs. LB had felt no contractions. Nothing. But the doctor had hooked her up to some sort of apparatus and it showed there that she was having very mild contractions, but having them nonetheless, which is why he wanted us back soon.

That night, we went out to dinner and a movie. We got home after 8, turned off the lights and went to bed at around 9. The house was quiet and peaceful. It's never been the same since.

On Oct. 1, a little after 1 p.m. Mrs. LB gave birth to our daughter. She was so small, covered in ick and crying. The doctor who'd taken her out lifted her very quickly so I could see before nurses whisked her away. That was it. I was a changed man. I knew everything would change. I knew that little fragile life depended on me and Mrs. LB, and that we had to deliver. But I was ready. I'd been ready.

We'd decided that, if it was a girl, we'd name her after our grandmothers, so we named her Yvonne Esperanza.

We called her Yvie for short.

Happy Birthday Yvie. I love you.