Vibram Five Finger Bikilas Update

November 28, 2011 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger Bikilas. They are what are called minimalist running shoes. For a while I have been wanting to try barefoot or minimalist running.

So far the transition to VFF’s has gone pretty well. The Vibram website, has a recommended guide for transitioning to running in VFF’s. Their recommended transition guide is 13 weeks long!

When I teach running to people either one on one, or when I have taught a clinic, one of the things I tell people is that the hardest thing for runners to learn is patience. In fact, I have a post on that very topic from a running clinic I taught here.

Of course, it’s as hard for me to be patient as anyone else. The idea of 13 weeks just to make the transition is just way too long for me to comprehend. In spite of my better judgement, I have managed to almost complete the transition in a couple of weeks. (Note: this is not recommended, even by me!) I logged just under 20 miles this past week. Normally, I run about 20-30 per week. I am running shorter runs more often than I did previously though. I also have not tackled my normal weekly long run of 10-15 miles yet.

A couple of thoughts on running in VFF’s. One, the ground feel in these things is quite different than in regular running shoes. You can literally feel every crack in the pavement. This also has caused me to be very conscious of what is on the ground. A good sized stone is likely to leave you with a stone bruise should you land on it.

Mountain bike riders talk about “choosing your line” when you ride trails. This refers to picking the most navigable route when riding. You are constantly assessing the path in front of you and making adjustments to avoid obstacles. In VFF’s I am doing the same thing where in regular shoes I was a little more oblivious to gravel, stones or even acorns.

The other thing is that these things will cause your calves a bit of discomfort while they adjust to the new gait your will run in VFF’s. You have to be more conscious of over-striding and landing hard on your heels. I’ve always had a pretty bio-mechanically efficient gait so it wasn’t too much of a change but even so, my calves are complaining a bit the next day after a run. I’ve tried to make sure I stretch them every chance I get throughout the day to help ease the tightness.

I’ve been very pleased with my VFF’s and the transition so far. I think that they are going to make me a better runner. We’ll see how this goes long term.

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A Veterans Day Bravo Zulu To My Shipmates

November 11, 2011 Leave a Comment

Today is Veterans Day. I am a Navy veteran who served on the greatest ship on earth, the USS Missouri BB63, an Iowa class battleship.

When I was younger, I used to wonder about those old veterans you’d see wearing hats or jackets that declared their service. Back then, I wondered if they were just reliving their glory days.

Now that I am older, I look back on my service in a different way. In fact, I will later dust off one of my old ship’s ball caps as I head out this morning and wear it, to in a way, tell everyone that I served.

Looking back on my service, we were such kids back then. We thought we were worldly. We thought we were ‘old salts’. But we were doing some exciting things. It was a great time of life.

We have some groups set up over on Facebook for USS Missouri sailors as well as for the Division I used to work in. There is also one set up for all former Battleship sailors. It’s interesting to watch the posts and conversations about those things we did all those years ago. In a way we are reliving those days.

On this Veterans Day I salute all my former shipmates, and all those that have served in the armed forces. You guys and gals are truly special.

Bravo Zulu.

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Who’s The Richer Man, Me Or Steve Jobs?

October 9, 2011 2 Comments

There have been quite a number of news stories about the recent death of Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs. Looking back at Steve’s life and work it’s easy for a normal, boring, middle aged guy like me to be a bit envious of the success and accolades that come with a life like his. I guess I am kind of insecure like that.

But there is a flip side to this story. A Reuters piece over at Yahoo Finance had this bit I think is worth exploring.

“I wanted my kids to know me,” Jobs was quoted as saying by Pulitzer Prize nominee Walter Isaacson, when he asked the Apple Inc co-founder why he authorized a tell-all biography after living a private, almost ascetic life.

“I wasn’t always there for them, and I wanted them to know why and to understand what I did,” Jobs told Isaacson in their final interview at Jobs’ home in Palo Alto, California.

I was kind of blown away by that. Someone who so zealously guarded his private life that he once tried to sue someone for writing an unauthorized biography was allowing a book to be written just so his kids would “know” him because in his words he “wasn’t always there for them”.

There is also this bit from a story over at the New York Times.

“Steve made choices,” Dr. Ornish said. “I once asked him if he was glad that he had kids, and he said, ‘It’s 10,000 times better than anything I’ve ever done.’ “

I thought this was an interesting comment. Steve founded and ran what is likely the most influential technology company in history. It’s products are so successful and so desired that when new ones arrive in stores, people line up for hours and pay premium prices for them. These products have changed the way the world works, creates and communicates. Steve’s personal net worth is estimated to be $6.5 billion dollars.

In spite of all this success, he confided to a friend that having children was “10,000 times better” than anything he’d ever done. While reflecting on these comments, I got to thinking about the legacy I am leaving behind with my kids.

I likely won’t have a biography written about me for my kids or anyone else. But there have been plenty of times that I have been able to share stories from my life with my son while we lie in a tent on a Boy Scout camp out before we drift off to sleep. And there are those times that may daughter and I laugh and talk over Starbucks while on a Daddy-Daughter date.

I avoid business trips and conferences so I can be home every night with my wife and kids. I make every tennis match my daughter has and take my son to every Boy Scout meeting he has. I get up every at 4AM during the week so I can get a run in and still be back in time to see my kids and make them breakfast in the morning before school.

These sacrifices, and the decision to be a husband and father before all else will probably knock me out of the running to be CEO of just about anything. I kind of doubt that when the end came for Steve Jobs, he wished he could have spent just a few more moments at the office instead of spending those moments with his wife and kids.

I may not be a billionaire technology visionary, but I think I just might be richer still.

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Twenty Four Years Of Marriage

September 26, 2011 2 Comments

On this date, 24 years ago My wife and I were married. A couple of years ago, on our twenty-second anniversary I wrote a post about how my wife and I met. If you are curious, you can find it here. I must say that it has been an interesting journey.

In the twenty-four years since we married, we’ve witnessed so many of our peers whose marriages didn’t make it. We’ve watched friends, relatives and co-workers go through the soul crushing pain of divorce. For some of them, we could have predicted at the outset that their marriage was doomed. Others, seemed like they had it all together and their divorces came as a surprise to us.

While thinking about my marriage and what has made it work while others have failed I came across this bit from pollster George Barna that I thought was interesting.

“There no longer seems to be much of a stigma attached to divorce; it is now seen as an unavoidable rite of passage,” the researcher indicated. “Interviews with young adults suggest that they want their initial marriage to last, but are not particularly optimistic about that possibility. There is also evidence that many young people are moving toward embracing the idea of serial marriage, in which a person gets married two or three times, seeking a different partner for each phase of their adult life.”

I must say thought that I don’t ever remember being pessimistic that our marriage would end in divorce. Likewise the idea that divorce is a rite of passage to be endured is completely foreign to me. I don’t know if any of this is the key to a successful marriage though.

Both my wife and I are children of divorce. While we married all too young and for all the wrong reasons we both decided early in our marriage that we didn’t want our marriage to fail. That doesn’t mean that our divorced friends didn’t have similar thoughts, in all likelihood they probably also wanted to avoid divorce too. Our marriage succeeded while theirs failed.

I can say that I feel supremely blessed that my wife Diana has chosen to remain with me in our marriage for all these years. While I don’t have some of the material blessings that some people have, I am rich beyond measure because I have a wonderful wife and a stable home in which to raise our kids. In fact, I would value my great marriage and modest middle class existence over a big home, fancy cars and a string of marriages any day.

Diana, thank you for your dedication to our marriage. It’s been a great twenty-four years so far. I look forward to completing the rest of the journey with you hand in hand.

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Thinning Out The Social Media Herd

September 11, 2011 2 Comments

For those few of you that followed my Tumblr or Gowalla accounts. I’ve decided to delete my accounts on those two social media services.

I am often an early adopter of many things social media wise. This is good in a way and also bad in another. It’s good in that I get to become familiar with them and bad in that my postings are scattered all over heck and back.

This should also get me back to posting more often over here.

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Father’s Day Without My Dad

June 19, 2011 Leave a Comment

This is my first Father’s Day without my biological father. His funeral was this past Monday. There was a good turnout from his friends in Minnesota to include quite a number of old Vikings football players. A number of them spoke about my dad. Since he lived in Minnesota, and I lived in Texas and saw him only a couple of times a year, I got to hear some of their stories for the first time.

Probably the one I was the most proud of was from Gene Washington, another Vikings player who played with my dad and also happened to be African American. He related that both he and my dad were originally from Texas. When they played high school ball in the 1950’s in Texas, whites and blacks were not allowed to play on the same teams, or to play against each other.

He related that when he got to the Vikings, my dad welcomed him, encouraged him and treated him like a peer, even though had they been in their home state they would not have been allowed to play against each other. It was nice to find out that even in those racially charged times, my dad treated everyone the same regardless of skin color. I can think of no higher compliment.

While we were in Minnesota for the funeral, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a great piece on my dad’s football playing days. From the story:

Paul Dickson was one of the original Minnesota Vikings, but he also was a Texan, and proud of both. His Lone Star-bred intensity on the defensive line — “We don’t play football any other way in Texas,” he said shortly after joining the Vikings — could grate on teammates who had to face him in practice.

“He was ornery on the field, even in practice,” recalled Jim Klobuchar, who covered Dickson and the Vikings for the Minneapolis Star in the 1960s. “It kind of offended the halfbacks, who didn’t think he should be knocking them on their can in practice.”

“Usually, when it’s first team against first team, you’re not as aggressive. But that wasn’t Paul,” linebacker Roy Winston added. “He upset the offensive line like crazy because he went so hard all the time.”

At the funeral, my daughter learned that my dad’s nickname in the NFL was “The Growler”. She asked me where that came from and I told her it was because Grandpa was ornery and ferocious on the field. She looked at me incredulous and said “Grandpa?”. She never saw his mean football player mode, only a kind, gentle grandpa.

Quite a number of old Vikings players came to the funeral, including Minnesota Supreme Court Justice and former Vikings teammate Alan Page. It was an honor to spend a few minutes chatting with such a fascinating guy and reminisce about my dad.

I also spent some time talking with Minnesota Chapter NFL Alumni president Kurt Knoff and another alum about the chapter that my dad worked so hard to support. We talked quite a bit about the physical toll that playing pro ball had on old players like my dad. Many of his medical problems were due to his 13 years in the NFL. At least, the league is finally beginning to recognize this and is changing the rules to prevent the kinds of injuries that hounded my dad in his later life.

In spite of all this, I am very grateful for my step-dad. While my biological father was 1,100 miles away for most of my life, my step-father put shoe leather to being a dad to me and was there to raise me. He did an admirable job with my brother and I and more importantly, he was and still is, there for my mom.

While I may not have a biological father anymore, I still have a dad in my life. For this, and for him, I thank God.

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My Dad Died Today

June 7, 2011 5 Comments

My dad died today.

It’s weird to write that sentence. My parents split when I was six so my dad and I didn’t have a normal father/son relationship. My dad stayed in Minnesota and my mom, my brother and I moved back to our home in Texas. This great, geographic gulf that then separated us got in the way of a normal relationship.

My dad tried, in his own way, to stay connected. We’d see him about twice a year, either he coming to see us or us going to see him. We’d also talk to him on the phone weekly. Still, twice a year isn’t much where a relationship is concerned. I guess my dad did much better than his dad before him. My grandfather abandoned his wife and sons and made no effort at all to stay connected.

I imagine that it would have been easier for my dad to follow in his dad’s footsteps and walk away entirely. But he didn’t and for that I am grateful.

Over the past few years, my dad’s physical and mental health have declined precipitously. It’s been kind of shocking to witness as my dad was once a big strapping guy. In fact, he was the first round draft choice for the 1959 Los Angeles Rams and played in the NFL for 13 seasons including playing in Superbowl IV.

To see him go from a big 6’5”, 250 pound defensive lineman to a hobbled old man hasn’t been pretty. In fact, I don’t doubt his old football injuries contributed to his death. The past couple of years have been painful to watch, even from a distance.

I was talking with a pastor friend of mine yesterday. I told him that so often when a loved one dies, we hear of people asking “God, why did you take my loved one?” I felt bad that as I got calls informing me that my dad was in the hospital or in a restorative care facility once again, that my question to God was “God, why haven’t you taken my loved one?”

Years ago, I tried to have that conversation that adult kids have with their aging parents about end of life care. My dad wouldn’t talk about it except to say, “I’ll never go to a nursing home. I’ll kill myself first.” In fact, in spite of my professional experience with death and explaining that we don’t often get to make that choice he wouldn’t budge and talk about what he wanted us to do for him at the end of his life.

I explained this conversation to one of his caregivers today and she mentioned that she thought my dad might have been refusing to eat as a way to hasten his death. She mentioned that on a recent visit that my dad said to her “If I don’t eat, I’m going to die.” Whatever his thoughts were in these past months, I am glad that his body is now free from pain and that he is at rest.

My brother had flown to Minnesota this week to help my dad transition to an assisted-living facility. He went to visit my dad and when he arrived was told by the nurses that my dad didn’t have long, in fact they thought he’d pass within minutes. My brother hurriedly called me and gave me the bad news. He then held the phone up to my dad’s ear. I told my dad that I loved him. That I cared for him and was thinking about him and praying for him. Only seconds after I said these words, my dad breathed his last and died.

My brother then told me that he was profoundly glad that he got to be there when our dad died. I guess that his final moments, surrounded by his family, were about the best way you can expect to leave this life.

I am sad that we didn’t get more time with him. I am also sad that we never got to have a normal father/son relationship. In spite of this, I don’t doubt that my dad loved me.

May he find peace in death.

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Soldiers and Cops: A Brotherhood of Suffering

June 4, 2011 Leave a Comment

One thing that cops and soldiers share is a brotherhood of suffering with PTSD. There was a piece over at NPR yesterday that really drives that fact home. There’s a bit in the story that I really connected with.

The author of the story is a US combat vet who served in Afghanistan. He mentioned that after coming home he couldn’t escape the anxiety that caused him to purchase the same model combat shotgun he used in Afghanistan, a M4 carbine and an M9 pistol and to keep these arms handy. He ended up sharing this with some veterans.

One Iraq war veteran in the classroom confessed he felt alienated and vulnerable back home, unarmed and defenseless. In an attempt to show he wasn’t alone, I revealed the secret of my personal arsenal.

Right after I said it, I knew I’d gone too far. I expected the students and professors to lean back in their chairs and nervously eyeball the shortest path to the exit.

Instead, one student stood up and pulled out a large hunting knife he’d concealed on his waist. He said when he turned in his M16, he began carrying this knife. Not a day had gone by since he returned from Iraq that he didn’t carry it.

Then a professor reached into his pocket and pulled out a tube of ChapStick.

He said the day he left his job as a police officer, he had to turn in his pistol. He also moved to carrying a concealed knife. After a couple of years, he mustered up the courage to transition from the knife to his lethal tube of ChapStick.

He trained himself to accept the ChapStick as a protective talisman. It provided the peace of mind he’d previously achieved with the knife and gun.

Unfortunately, I have suffered with PTSD for a number of years because of my time as a police officer. In fact, that’s one of the reasons that I went from being a sworn officer to a civilian crime analyst. When I left being a police officer I deliberately avoided getting a concealed handgun license to try and distance myself from the PTSD demons that at one time caused me to consider eating the gun I carried all those years.

But all those years of being armed and on the alert for bad guys left me feeling awfully naked when completely unarmed. I too took to carrying a tactical folding knife “just in case”. Enough time has now passed and I have transitioned to a smaller, less fearsome folding knife as my protective talisman.

I don’t know if I will ever completely shed the PTSD demons. I do think I have made a lot of progress though. I was speaking to my physician the other day about PTSD and told him that I hoped that with all the renewed focus on PTSD because of the returning vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, that our understanding of it will improve. Maybe then we can put our talismans away for good.

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Running Along The Amber Waves Of Grain

April 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Saturday mornings are usually the time I try to get my long runs in. I am very fortunate to live in a neighborhood that is adjacent to a rural area. Within a mile after leaving my driveway I am out among the country roads with cows, deer and all sorts of other critters. This morning my run took me past some wheat fields that have nearly finished turning from green to amber.

Amber Waves

When the wind is right, you can smell the wonderful sweet, malty, breadlike smell that comes off these fields when the grain is nearly ripe. Later this summer, the farmer who owns this field will plant corn and when it ripens a similar but slightly different scent will also welcome me as I run along the fields.

For me, these long runs are a wonderful, spiritual experience. Your body finds it’s rhythm as you cover the miles. The smell of the fields, the sounds of the birds, along with the abundance of wildflowers along the road help me to realize just how wonderful creation is. It’s easy to get lost in yourself during these runs.

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2010 Running Wrap Up

December 31, 2010 Leave a Comment

Every year at the end of the year I go back over my workout logs and figure out how many miles I have covered, running, cycling or walking for the year. I got my last run of the year in this morning and can close out my log for the year. I can also get ready to make that first entry of the year tomorrow in the new log.

Here’s the totals for 2010:

  • Running – 135
  • Cycling – 274.6
  • Walking – 376.9

This year my running totals were pretty light. I struggled with a few injuries and spent more time cycling and walking. In fact, I thought my running career was over permanently. I’m glad this turned out not to be the case because for me, running is like crack. I am totally addicted to it.

I have kept workout logs since I started running back in 1991. Right now my totals since 1991 are:

  • Running – 7094.7
  • Cycling – 7345.3
  • Walking – 875.9

If I look like I have been slacking where walking is concerned, I only started walking a couple of years ago. Basically I was forced into it due to a few injuries. My best years were:

  • 2004 – 1012.4 miles Running
  • 1994 – 1978.3 miles Cycling

I’m hoping to stay healthy and active in 2011 and get my running totals back up in the 1000 mile per year range again. What are your resolutions for 2011 going to be?

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