7.7mi, 72:48, 31 JUL 08, Bagram, Afghanistan

Day 170 of the campaign.

iThink:
Scott Cossu, "The Triumph"
R.E.M., "Driver 8"
They Might Be Giants, "Older" (as in Rollercoaster Massacre)
Rob Zombie, "Feel So Numb" (since you can see the first three seasons of Battlestar Galactica in 5 minutes)

WX at 0730: 80 (27) DP 64 (18) BP 29.83 (1010) Variable 2 haze RH 57

Odometer 2: 191.0mi

Z2 start, Z3 finish.
Average heart rate = 160

This is perimeter run 27.

I gotta admit, it's kind of nice going out running in the middle of the summer and it's only 80 degrees in Afghanistn.

Today was a day of little sleep - my circadian rhythms are still jacked, so I'm waking up at 3:00am sharp...wide awake. This is not helpful.

On the other hand, it does provide some incentive to get out and run in the mornings rather than at night.

Today was a day of wogging after the last two runs. I could feel it in my knees after about 5.5 miles. I think they're tired, but getting tougher. At least that's what I'm trying to say to myself as self justification for running nothing but long slow distance.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 09:18 09:18 09:18 09:18 1.00
1.00 18:27 09:09 09:09 09:14 2.00
1.00 27:39 09:12 09:12 09:13 3.00
1.00 36:40 09:01 09:01 09:10 4.00
1.00 45:49 09:09 09:09 09:10 5.00
1.00 55:05 09:16 09:16 09:11 6.00
1.00 64:09 09:04 09:04 09:10 7.00
0.74 72:48 08:39 11:41 09:24 7.74

7.8mi, 68:20, 28 JUL 08, Bagram, Afghanistan

Day 168 of the campaign.

iThink: Hilary Duff, "Wake Up"

WX at 0530: 68 (20) DP 48 (9) BP 29.85 (1011) Variable 2 RH 48

Odometer 3: 143.4mi

Z3-4.
Average HR 163.

This is perimeter run 26.

Today was suck. I thought I was going easy, but I woke up at 4:30am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to grit out a run. Oh, what a grind that was. I started running progressively positive splits, (or so I thought) but it got harder and harder. My legs were tired - but running this same run within 30 hours probably had something to do with it also.

Still, the weather was pleasant, which is more than I can say about most other places around here, like Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq...

I saw my erstwhile running partner dog walking down the main drag here at Bagram. As much as we're not supposed to mess with the local fauna, I hope he's doing okay. I suppose.

I also had to reinstall Windows XP on my computer today. Grr. My BlueTooth stack was malfunctioning and that's the only way I can get my computer to go online without a Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection. Suck.

I'm taking tomorrow off.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:41 08:41 08:41 08:41 1.00
1.00 17:29 08:48 08:48 08:45 2.00
1.00 26:17 08:48 08:48 08:46 3.00
1.00 35:17 09:00 09:00 08:49 4.00
1.00 44:01 08:44 08:44 08:48 5.00
1.00 52:49 08:48 08:48 08:48 6.00
1.00 61:51 09:02 09:02 08:50 7.00
0.78 68:20 06:29 08:19 08:47 7.78

7.78mi, 65:30, 26 JUL 08, Bagram, Afghanistan

Day 166 of the campaign.

iThink:
Dos Gringos, "Jeremiah Weed"
Dos Gringos, "Sammy Small"

WX at 2330: 64 (18) DP 57 (14) BP 29.85 (1011) E 6 RH 78

Odometer 2: 183.3mi

Z3 high.

This is perimeter run 25.

First perimeter run since getting back. The weather was remarkably cooperative - given the fact that it rained for the first time in a few months and as a result, it was much more humid than I normally expect.

I started off pretty quick in the first mile, and then shifted back to my old speed, unfortunately. Going from sea level back to 4900 feet MSL is a big change.

I have no idea why I had the lyrics to Jeremiah Weed stuck in my head...in a place where I can't have any...but the ones that really come to mind are this excerpt:

Now everyone is curious and they all want to know
Does it make you smarter will it make your penis grow
It won't bring ya women and it won't bring ya luck
So why do we drink it? ‘Cause it tastes like fuck!

Fox 1, when you've got nothing left
Fox 2, it's that heater in your chest
Fox 3, the only friend you'll ever need
That cocksucker motherfucker Jeremiah Weed

The most unusual part of this run was my unintended running companion. As I was passing by the cement factory on the base, about 2 miles from my start point, I heard some barking and then heard a dog approaching fast from the rear. Normally I get pretty jittery about local wildlife, and this was no exception. This dog must have been looking for some companionship, because he followed me the entire way through back to the start.

I have to admit I was thinking to myself "what a great time not to be packing heat." As a result, I continued to run regardless of whether this dog was with me or not. (If it was going to attack me, I needed to be ready, but there was no way I was outrunning this dog.) It did make the end of my run a bit faster, but I was so spent by the end that I reverted to my old speed-- slow.

This dog was actually friendly - I thought back to the last time I was running with my old dog Thor. But it's generally a bad habit to play with the local wildlife.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 07:45 07:45 07:45 07:45 1.00
1.00 16:10 08:25 08:25 08:05 2.00
1.00 24:29 08:19 08:19 08:10 3.00
1.00 32:58 08:29 08:29 08:14 4.00
1.00 41:24 08:26 08:26 08:17 5.00
1.00 50:11 08:47 08:47 08:22 6.00
1.00 58:37 08:26 08:26 08:22 7.00
0.78 65:30 06:53 08:49 08:25 7.78

6.5mi, 1:48:26, 24 JUL 08, Bagram, Afghanistan

Day 164 of the campaign.

iThink: None.

WX at 2330: 78 (26) DP 30 (-1) BP 29.77 (1008) N 18 RH 17

Odometer 1: 262.5mi

Z3.

This hash was craptacularly bad. This was hallmarked by two red flags, one a new hare who was deathly paranoid of getting caught, and two, an experienced hasher who had very strong opinions about what trail should look like. The end result was trail laid through very broken terrain that wasn't within line of sight of itself and consequently, I ran straggler control almost the entire hash.

It's rare that it takes almost two hours to get the entire pack together, but this was so badly laid that I was just disappointed. Not even beside myself, but just disappointed.

I'm laying the next one as lead hare.

Uh-huh

I'm not sure what it is lately, but sitting at an Air Force base the last few days has generated two things...

An attempt to nearly fucking kill myself by drinking a third of a bottle of Jeremiah Weed,

And bizarre aviation shit like this.

What military aircraft are you? B-52 Stratofortress You're a B-52. You are old and wise, and you absolutely love destruction. You believe in the principle of "peace through deterrence" and aren`t afraid to throw your weight around.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

I'm not so sure about the "old and wise" bullshit, though. I do love destruction, though.

That's why I'm trying to kill off the Jeremiah Weed bottle before I return to the combat zone...because there's nothing quite like waking up and realizing I was still trashed.

7.3mi, 60:23, 17 JUL 08, Scott AFB IL

Day 156 of the campaign.

iThink:
The Bats, "Courage"
The Rolling Stones, "Gimme Shelter"
Inspiral Carpets, "Gimme Shelter"

WX at 0600: 66.9 (19.4) DP 65.8 (18.8) BP 30.15 (1020) Calm mist; shallow fog RH 96

Odometer 3: 135.6mi

Z3 high.

Today was a bit more painful, but I've been dilatory in staying steady and actually running day to day. This is one of the few instances in the last few months where I've actually been diligent on doing so.

Today was nowhere near as fast as yesterday - nor should it have been. I noticed that even small uphills make a major difference to how I feel. I need to start hitting the weights again.

I also need to be better about not jackrabbiting my starts. This was particularly apparent as I started my first few hundred meters going about 7:30 pace. This is neither prudent nor useful.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:06 08:06 08:06 08:06 1.00
1.00 16:24 08:18 08:18 08:12 2.00
1.00 24:53 08:29 08:29 08:18 3.00
1.00 33:28 08:35 08:35 08:22 4.00
1.00 41:35 08:07 08:07 08:19 5.00
1.00 49:59 08:24 08:24 08:20 6.00
1.00 58:14 08:15 08:15 08:19 7.00
0.28 60:23 02:09 07:41 08:18 7.28

4.1mi, 32:04, 16 JUL 08, Scott AFB IL

Day 155 of the campaign.

iThink: Wire, "Outdoor Miner" (admittedly a strange choice.)

WX at 0600: 68.5 (20.3) 67.1 (19.5) 30.16 (1021) Calm RH 95

Odometer 3: 128.3mi

Z4.

Nothing gets you going faster than the realization that you started too late!

I cranked probably my fastest run in a while. Now, it's a mite humid from what I was used to previously, but the temperature was probably a little better.

I was pretty happy to find that I could hold steady at the pace that I did today. I'm sure all that will tank at altitude.

What I'm really curious is to see what I weigh right now as I think I might have lost some weight on leave...lard weight, maybe, because I was walking everywhere. There's something to be said for that...and why you see a lot more fat Americans than fat Europeans.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 07:58 07:58 07:58 07:58 1.00
1.00 15:50 07:52 07:52 07:55 2.00
1.00 23:51 08:01 08:01 07:57 3.00
1.00 31:35 07:44 07:44 07:54 4.00
0.07 32:04 00:29 06:54 07:53 4.07

Should I be disturbed that I'm two hot chicks

And I even share a name with one of them...

Which Battlestar Galactica Cylon Are You?

More on Battlestar Galactica. Created by BuddyTV

Which Battlestar Galactica Character Are You?

Which Battlestar Galactica Character Are You?
Created by BuddyTV

This bothers me, and I'm not sure why

SPC Joseph Dwyer, a medic from the 3d Squadron, 7th Cavalry photographed in 2003, died of substance abuse on 28 June. This article tells some of the background behind the story and the photo.

I think of a line from David Drake's Redliners, the one book that I will always pack when going to a combat zone:

"Do you believe that the Unity owes its soldiers nothing but burial or a pension, Miss Chun?" I said. My voice didn't rise, but it had less give than the face of an anvil. "Do you think it is to the long-term benefit of the Unity that our citizens regard discharged soldiers as trash that litters our streets and occasionally explodes lethally? Do you?"

I have a hard time relating to civilians, and I certainly did at some times in this leave (which is about to wrap up). I was sitting at a wedding last night in Sligo, Ireland and there were two things I couldn't shake.

One of them was of what we expect our troops to do in places like Nuristan province, Afghanistan...and the unbelievable cognitive dissonance I feel at being at a wedding when people who execute the plans I write are in places like that. That grates on my conscience, sometimes more than at others.

The other was that I was sitting in a place which sits near Northern Ireland, an area which fought an insurgency for forty years. Does every democracy have to fight a civil war? I don't know - and while I certainly don't support the Irish Republican Army, I do have to wonder if the Sinn Fein sign I saw up in a traffic circle here in town is necessarily a bad thing.

That said, the unease I feel about Joseph Dwyer's passing is that we take our soldiers for granted. We take the conflict they fight in as something that no one really wants to pay attention to, and that bothers the hell out of me.

Then what do you do when those soldiers come back as damaged goods?

The mills of the gods, they grind slowly...

4.1mi, 35:01, 11 JUL 08, Sligo, Ireland

Day 150 of the campaign.

iThink:
Philip Aaberg, "Marias River Breakdown" (from the 1986 Windham Hill Sampler, no shit)
The Bats, "Courage"

WX at 0900: 51 (11) DP 44 (7) BP 29.77 (1008) NNW 15 RH 76

Odometer 3: 124.2mi

Z3.

Today wasn't very long, but it was promising. I was running mostly to get lactic acid out of my legs, but noticed steady positive splits after the first uphill. I was gratified to find out that I was holding just below 8:00mpm on the way back, mostly on level ground, and was accelerating at the end - even at what I'd normally call high Z3 effort.

The big variable is the weather. I was cold this morning - first time in a while I've worn more than shorts and a shirt for a run! I'm headed back to the US for a week or two after this - I'll totally incinerate when I get back there after these temperatures. 51 degrees in the summer. Huh!

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:28 08:28 08:28 08:28 1.00
1.00 17:37 09:09 09:09 08:48 2.00
0.10 18:34 00:57 09:48 08:51 2.10
1.00 26:43 08:09 08:09 08:38 3.10
1.00 34:41 07:58 07:58 08:28 4.10
0.05 35:01 00:20 06:31 08:26 4.15

The price of freedom

remains eternal vigilance...

I made a big point of getting a poster of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms for my children. I saw this and while I don't see myself getting a set of these for the kids, if you're an American and you don't feel some tinge of conscience, something is wrong.

This picture of Fred Phelps to the left illustrates a lot of what bothers me about America from time to time. If it doesn't bother you, then you need to do some soul-searching about your national identity.

Also, for some background...

9.25mi, 80:10, 8 JUL 08, IVO Knocknarea Mountain, Ireland

Day 147 of the campaign.

iThink:
Aly & AJ, "Chemicals React"
Let's Active, "Ornamental"
The Cure, "Primary" (Red Mix)
Bear McCreary, "All Along the Watchtower"

WX at 1300: 57 (14) DP 50 (10) BP 29.74 (1007) WSW 16 RH 76

Odometer 3: (with constructive credit from walking all over Paris and London) ~120.0mi

Z3.

First run since going to Paris and London, and I felt surprisingly okay - although a bit of it is attributable to the weather and not running for a while.

Surprisingly, for going up the killer hills I went up, I felt pretty fit going up - less the killer uphill returning from the turn-around.

Hills are killing me - but I have fairly decent return from altitude training.

The last few days in London were fine - the hotel we were at had no Disney Channel - thank fuck - because returning to Ireland, I realize how much I fucking hate That's So Raven and Cory In The House, which never cease to insult the shit out of the viewing intelligence - whatever is left.

Splits
SGMT AGGRG SEGMT PERMI AVGPC DIST
1.00 08:05 08:05 08:05 08:05 1.00
1.00 16:37 08:32 08:32 08:19 2.00
1.00 25:50 09:13 09:13 08:37 3.00
1.00 34:50 09:00 09:00 08:43 4.00
0.61 40:01 05:11 08:30 08:41 4.61
1.00 50:01 10:00 10:00 08:55 5.61
1.00 58:29 08:28 08:28 08:51 6.61
1.00 66:35 08:06 08:06 08:45 7.61
1.00 74:56 08:21 08:21 08:42 8.61
0.64 80:10 05:14 08:11 08:40 9.25