Michael:Testing 1...2...3

Rising before dawn
To witness the brilliant stars
In abject silence.

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Sundays are long trail run days and that means another opportunity to test some equipment and long run strategies.

On our 5 ½ hour outing today I used my Hoka ATR Challenger 2s with Spenco super thin inserts, knickers without undies, and tried to see if I could get by on just over a liter and a half of water and a 5 oz. flask of my homemade gel brew and a small package of Spanish Chips Ahoy cookies.

The Hokas I’ve been saving for ultra races and two long excursions I have planned for next year. But with a 50k fast approaching (December 3), I thought I’d better see how they felt over a 5+ hour effort. One of the knocks on the 2s is suppose to be reduced foot volume over the 1s due to the upgrades of a cushioned tongue and thicker insole. Yet even with my slightly thicker Spenco insole and using medium weight Smartwool socks, my feet were pretty comfortable after today’s long run. I actually prefer the tighter feel of the 2s over the 1s and the padding in the tongue makes a huge difference in comfort when locking down the laces. Now that they’ve passed the test, they can rest up for the big events.

The tights sans underwear test was more of a C+ endeavor. The reason I tried it was because I feel wearing underwear, tights, then liner-less shorts on top is a bit over-kill, particularly given my pension of waiting until the last second to go pee out on the trail. If I’m not quick enough or one layer isn’t cooperating…but enough about my personal problems.

The reason for the underwear is to prevent chafing. For whatever reason, all the tights I’ve tried pull down and my privates end up rubbing against my thigh. Today I used a bit of Vaseline to prevent chafing, which it did, but it didn’t prevent that annoying rubbing. Back to the underwear combo. The reason I use liner-less shorts over the tights is both for modesty on public transportation and to have a few additional pockets. The Pearl Izumi long run shorts with their mesh pockets on the side and large zipper pocket in the back is great for quick and easy storage access. They’re a keeper.

 As far as how the hydration/nutrition experiment went, after 5 ½ plus hours on a temperate day I still had about 10 oz of water left and a few cookies. I was a little fatigued, but that’s to be expected. But no upset stomach or unexpected decline in energy. Not sure I’m dead set on the cookies as my go to solid of choice, but I want my stomach and brain to be on their toes and  to not freak out if I’ve got to throw some sugar at them in whatever form might be handy.

All things considered, everything went pretty well and it was a great day to hop on this side of the volcano and scamper out in the enchanted forest that clings to it almost all the way up near to its peak.

Michael: Off the Beaten Path - Water

The rosemary bush
Has a beguiling fragrance
Worthy of the gods.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Before working out any more details of a screwball fastpack trip the main feasibility question is; is there water?, how far apart are water stops?, and will I need a filter?

I know, I know…even if there are marked spots where drinking water is available and even if you’ve gone to the pre-caution of contacting the park system to see if the water systems are up and running, it’s still not a bad idea to bring a back up. But if I’ve been assured everything’s functioning as it should, I’ll skip the filter and bring some purification tablets.

Now, it gets a little complicated. There is drinking water on the two sections of the North Country Trail that I plan on doing in July. Heading east from Munising, there are three campgrounds with drinking water on the Painted Rock Lakeshore Trail. But they’re not ideally spaced apart. Damned drive-in campers!

The first is about 15 miles away but requires a 1 ½ mile hike up a spur trail to reach the faucet. Round trip that would be an extra 3 miles. Not a problem if I didn’t have a hard 5:30 deadline to reach a shuttle. The next available water is another 20 miles up the trail. 35 miles is a long way to go on the two liter bladder my pack holds, so I may just take that spur trail and get some water 15 miles in. That has the bonus of not having to carry a full bladder at anytime during my trip on this section. But it may cost me about half an hour and a little extra fatigue.

After the water at mile 35 the next water is only two miles further up the trail. With the end of the trail only 7 miles away, there’s no point stopping there. So that means two water stops en-route.

After catching the 5:30 shuttle and  returning to Munising, I was hoping to catch a bus to Marquette and hopping on a Greyhound to reunite with my wife and mother-in-law in Cheboygan. That bus leaves nightly at 1:35 a.m. and arrives in Cheboygan at 8:30 in the morning. What the hell, I’ll be so wiped out I probably won’t even notice the little Bambi speed bumps on the Deer Killer Express.

But there is no evening shuttle service to Marquette except on Fridays and Saturdays. That means another night in a hotel in Munising and either hang out in Munising or Marquette the following day or jog the 45 miles or so to Marquette. Again, what the hell, I’ve got until well past midnight to get there.

But the section of the trail heading west from Munising toward Marquette isn’t in a National Park, it’s through some forests and a lot of farm country.
Is there water? From my search of the net there is a small state park - Laughing Whitefish Falls - about 2/3 of the way to Marquette, that has a water pump. Again, it’ll be a few miles off the main trail on a spur trail through the park, but that could be my only opportunity to fill up on that section without carrying a filter or going way off the trail.

All right, so far it seems a plausible way to go. There is water. The distances are a stretch; after 30 miles of racing it would mean two back to back days of nearly 45 miles. I’ve put together 3 thirty mile days before and that was on the mountainous Wonderland trail.

Now I’ve got to be honest about my conditioning, whether it would be enjoyable, and do I want to risk pushing through the dark in a very exhausted state by myself?

Michael: Head East or West, Old Man

A day of drizzle
And light wind brings to an end
The rainy season.

Friday, October 28, 2016

It doesn’t take much research to discover why some beautiful areas are not visited very often, particularly if you don’t have a car.

Take the Upper Peninsula in Michigan where Kimme and I will be next year to run in the Grand Island 50k. After the race is over Kimme’s going to take our rental car and make the long drive between Munising and Cheboygan, Michigan. I’m going to stay behind and run part of the North Country Trail.

Right outside of Munising is the Pictured Rock National Shoreline, which is suppose to be one of the most scenic sections of the North Country Trail. How fortunate for me.

Now the problems begin. I don’t want to camp because then I’ll have to take my equipment to the states and I’d rather run lighter and go from lodge to lodge. If I head east and can cover the 42 miles in a day I can stay in a nice cozy hotel at the end of the run in the little town of Grand Marais.

Only problem is where do I go from there? Running all the way to Cheboygan means I wouldn’t have any time to visit, which wouldn’t sit well with the wife.

All right, I’ll run to the nearest Greyhound station and take that to my mother in law’s. But heading east toward Cheboygan, the nearest bus station is just about as far away as if I ran to her house.

Okie-doke; lets head west. About 40 some miles to the west of Munising is Marquette, which has a Greyhound station, Yeah! And to top it off Pictured Rock has a shuttle service that runs between Munising and Grand Marais.

Now that I can get back to Munising, the question is how do I get to Marquette? If I ran there that would be a race of 30 miles, followed by a jog of 40 miles followed by another 40 mile day. That may be my only option but if there’s a local bus that shuttles to Marquette, I would have to strongly consider that option.

Along with all the other logistical considerations, like shuttle and bus schedules, where to get water and where to stay, a short trip of just over 100 miles becomes pretty complicated when I’m relying on my limited wits and physical capabilities and without that favorite American traveling companion, the car.

Michael: Dear Abby

The preying mantis,
When it holds still, is almost
Imperceptible.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

My sister wrote me a Dear Abby letter the other day and I ended up writing myself advice.

She recently retired and is anxious about how she should spend her time. Right now she’s spending most of her time cleaning and watching T.V. She doesn’t feel she knows what her purpose should be for the rest of her life.

I do know she’s mentioned getting a small camper and just traveling where her inclination takes her. I think that would be a blast, but she doesn’t feel she can afford it right now. So I advised her to do the research anyway and even is she can’t do it this minute, planning for it would give her some direction and would possibly give her the impetus to work part-time or do whatever she needs to do financially to make it happen.

I also suggested she see if she could find some way to do a small chunk of that experience to see if that would be a worthwhile pursuit. Maybe a friend of hers and she could rent a small R.V. for a couple of weeks and give it a go.

And this is how that advice comes back to me. Years ago I bought a book about various long trails in the United States. I’ve done several of them but haven’t thought about pursuing any of the others for years now. But in a few months we’re going to visit Kimme’s mom in Michigan. So I checked on line to see if there’s any long trails near the trail race we’ll be doing when we visit  and, yes, there is. The North Country Trail that goes from New York to North Dakota.

I won’t have time to do all of it but I should be able to get out for a few days on a section that run through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. So it seems I may have been waiting for the opportunity to take myself up on my own advice.

Michael: Immigrants and the Indigenous

The smile of the moon
Through the gauze of morning clouds
Is a chilling sight.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

U.S. immigration policy has, at times, been front and center during this presidential election cycle. What strikes me, from living in Panama now for almost two years, is the similarities between the illegal immigrants in the U.S. and the indigenous people of Panama. What also strikes me, is how little I know about how either group lives. That I have no excuse for and ought to correct in the near future.

It seems both groups are responsible for virtually all of the agricultural labor in both countries. But I have no idea what wages either group is paid or what laws or policies govern their working conditions.

I do know that no candidate I heard from this year running for President in the U.S. talked about what agricultural products would cost if agricultural laborers were paid a living wage and given health insurance. And that seems to me to be the crux of the issue. Are we willing to pay what it would cost to use only legal workers in the agricultural industry?

How these labor and economic issues in Panama vary from similar concerns in the U.S. will be interesting to discover, but just like in the states, the back breaking agricultural work is being done by a large minority group.

Michael: From Pup to Dog

Shadows to sunshine;
The afternoon turns away
From the winter’s gloom.

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Shortly after we moved here a almost two years ago, our neighbors got a very cute black puppy with a white stripe going down its chest. That pup is just about full grown. And, although he’s not quite two, being a Panamanian dog, he’s had to grow up quick and it shows.

He’s still very friendly toward us, even rolling over in a puppy like deferential move. And he still craves affection over food. Often not leaving despite the offer of treats. He would rather be hugged.

But despite his youth, he often shows up with large ticks hanging off him, blood on the top of his head, infected eyes and clotted gashes. He’s a mess.

And he now roams far away from our small neighborhood into town, though he’s usually back in the afternoon.

He seems to want to join a pack but unlike many of the dogs here he hasn’t gone off to join up with a few other dogs. He apparently is still holding out hope that he’ll be part of his human pack; the neighbor with the two young boys. When they’ve been gone a while he’ll sometimes sit outside our gate, and we feel he wouldn’t mind if we were his pack. We just don’t know how to explain to him that’s not how us goofy humans operate.

Michael: Play Date

Yellow tailed black bird
Swoops gracefully through the air
Going for its prey.

Monday, October 24, 2016

A couple of weeks ago Kimme and I decided to switch up our routine a little. Instead of just doing a recovery run on Monday we decided to throw in a little play, like tossing a Frisbee or playing catch to add some variety, loosen the structure of one of our workouts, and to enjoyably work on skills that we don’t get through running, riding, lifting and whatever else we do.

But the question was where could we go that was near enough not to make this a hassle. There’s isn’t a park close by but there is a school with a very large field. The problem with that is school here starts pretty early and I wasn’t sure if it was acceptable to use a field while school is in session. As a primary teacher in the states for 25 years I know adults who weren’t school employees wouldn’t be allowed onto the grounds without an office pass, and no sane adult would ask to play on the field while school was in session. Even an adult walking slowly enough around the outside of our school was enough to draw suspicion.

So our plan of action was to go to the school, Frisbee in hand, start tossing and see what happened. Last week, nothing. This week, nothing again. It seems so long as we play where we’re not a distraction a live and let live policy is in place.

I like that. I like that there isn’t a huge sign outside of the school that details what isn’t permitted on school grounds. Common sense seems to rule here as opposed to the paranoia and fear of litigation that dominates public institutions in the states.

It may strike some of the parents here bringing their kids to school that  walking into school without children but intending to act like ones is odd, but they don’t seem the least bit threatened by us, nor should they.