Andrew Schrauben

Most people think of Thurman Munson as a baseball player, a talented and charismatic catcher for the New York Yankees during the 1970's. His success on the field was so impressive that Munson seemed almost certain to one day earn recognition in the Hall of Fame. Sadly, Munson's career and life were cut short 30 years ago today - August 2, 1979. It was his performance as a pilot, not as a ballplayer, that ultimately defined his legacy.

What
Munson was licensed pilot and on an off day during the 1979 season he took two of his friends, David Hall and Jerry Anderson, for a pleasure flight in his new Cessna Citation 501. During a series of touch-and-go's the aircraft descended too low during the fourth approach and crashed short of the runway, killing Munson and injuring his two friends.

How
Pilot error. Munson fell behind the power curve, both literally and figuratively. Literally because he flew his aircraft into a low speed, high drag condition that requires increased thrust as airspeed decreases. Figuratively because Munson failed to recognize a deteriorating situation and didn't take corrective action in time to avoid an accident.

Why
Preparation, execution, and luck. Most professional athletes excel because they are obsessive about their preparation and execution, and achieve greatness by being in the right place at the right time. My 7th grade teacher Mr. Pipkin was fond of saying: "Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." Munson was no exception and his baseball success was attributable to all three factors. Tragically, the failure of these factors - a lack of preparation, poor execution, and bad luck - led to Munson's death, one that was ultimately caused by his own judgement.

Lack of Preparation
Munson was a well-trained pilot with 516 hours of flight time, although just 34 hours flying Citation jets. While 500 hours is significant, the most experienced pilots measure their flight time in the thousands of hours. Some folks in aviation consider the 300-600 hour range of experience to be somewhat dangerous, the theory being that such pilots have enough experience to feel very confident in their skills, but not enough experience to fully appreciate the limits of their abilities. It's notable that John F. Kennedy Jr. had slightly over 300 hours of flight time under his belt when his fatal accident occurred, just to cite one well-known example.

Perhaps such confidence contributed to the fact that Munson never bothered to brief his passengers. This was especially critical as both of his friends were experienced pilots who Munson could've relied on for assistance; in fact, Hall was his former flight instructor (in a smaller aircraft) and was sitting in the co-pilot's seat. The NTSB report on the crash includes this quote from Hall:

"I was trying to convey to him my discomfort with the fact that we were getting a little bit low and that I was uncomfortable with the sink rate. I didn't want to come out and say 'I don't like this approach; please add power.' I was trying to feed that intormation to him in that fashion because, again, I had no experience in this type of aircraft."

A passenger briefing is required by FAA regulations yet Munson did not conduct one. As a result his friends were unaware of the specific aircraft configuration to expect for an approach, let alone the basics of emergency exits, etc. Notably, neither Munson nor Hall were wearing their shoulder harnesses (all three were wearing lap belts) and seatbelts are a part of any passenger briefing.

Further showing a lack of preparation was that Munson calculated the wrong target approach speed, Vref, which is based on aircraft weight. His jet was 1000 lbs heavier than he estimated and the resulting lower Vref gave him less margin for error as he flew into the "mush" regime of the power curve.

Lastly, choosing to perform touch-and-go's wasn't the safest way to demonstrate his new bird for his friends. Takeoffs and landings require a high workload for the pilot and to conduct them repeatedly while hosting friends on board increases the risk needlessly. A safer flight plan would've been to depart the airport traffic pattern and enjoy a pleasure flight at higher altitude in less congestion.

Poor Execution
During the flight Munson did not refer to any checklists. Even professional airline pilots with over 10,000 hours of flight time will always use their checklists. It's far too easy to forget a step, especially when unexpected events interrupt the series of tasks. During the accident approach Munson simply forgot to lower the flaps, an omission that reduced his margin for error by limiting the lift-to-drag ratio of the aircraft. He had even forgotten to lower the landing gear but his friends reminded him of that critical detail.

Compounding Munson's high workload was that he wasn't hitting his marks, and much like a pitcher not finding the strikezone and falling behind in the count, Munson fell behind the power curve. He wasn't holding the proper airspeed or altitude in the traffic pattern, forcing him to divert attention to make corrections while also communicating with air traffic control and his passengers.

Another odd choice was Munson's decision to deliberately fly the third approach (which was ultimately successful) without flaps and allow Hall to handle the controls. While it's possible to land without flaps, it is challenging and Munson decided to perform this maneuver spontaneously. Handing the controls to his friend was downright careless. Even though Hall was an experienced pilot, he had never flown a business jet and hadn't even been briefed on how to land in a normal configuration, let alone with a no-flaps setup.

Landing without flaps is analagous to driving a car without using first gear. Remember your first time driving a stick-shift and how difficult it was to start from a stop without stalling? That's what Munson asked his friend to do, while adding the challenge of starting in second gear.

During the fourth approach Munson forgot to lower the flaps but his friends assumed they were doing another planned no-flap approach and thus never alerted Munson. Being distracted by a change in traffic pattern assigned by air traffic control didn't help the situation, and Munson being poorly set up in the pattern further taxed his mental resources. Munson eventually realized that his jet was too low and still sinking so he began to add power, but only incrementally.

Jet engines require more time to "spool up" in response to a throttle change, and despite being aware of this fact - Munson had even cautioned his friends about it during an earlier approach - he was slow to react to the low thrust condition, perhaps due to his limited jet experience and high workload. By the time he realized that full power was needed, it was too late to stop the aircraft's momentum from carrying them all the way into the ground.

Bad Luck
In this accident luck wasn't much of a factor in avoiding the crash. However, luck played a critical role in the accident's survivability. The aircraft crash-landed into a field of small trees, skinny enough that they didn't result in any violent impacts as the aircraft skidded across the field... Except for the one huge tree stump four feet in diameter. The Citation slammed into the stump, spinning the jet 180 degrees before coming to rest. The stump impacted the left side of the cockpit, directly underneath Munson.

A few feet to the right and it might have been Hall who died; a few more feet in either direction and everyone may have survived. As it happened, both of Munson's friends were relatively unhurt by the impact. However, Munson's seat detached due to the force of the tree stump's direct hit, thrusting him into the instrument panel. The impact broke his neck, but Munson was alive.

Once the aircraft came to rest Munson asked his friends "Are you guys OK?" When they asked how he was doing, he replied "I don't know. I can't move. I can't move." With the aircraft engulfed in flames, Hall and Anderson struggled to free Munson but finally were forced to abandon their efforts when the flames became too intense. Both of Munson's friends suffered severe burns as they delayed their own exit while courageously trying to rescue him.

What If
As with most every accident, whether in aviation or any other discipline, a cascading chain of events eroded risk to the point that disaster was inevitiable. Breaking any single link in this chain would've resulted in a safe outcome, if not prevent the accident altogether. There were numerous opportunities for Munson change the tragic outcome of this flight:

What if Munson had...

• remembered to lower the flaps? The approach likely would've proceeded uneventfully.
• used the proper checklists? He wouldn't have forgotten to deploy the flaps.
• briefed his friends of the flight plan? They could've alerted him to the forgotten flaps.
• calculated the correct Vref? The aircraft would've carried more speed during the approach and required less corrective thrust.
• flown a more stabilized approach? The reduced mental workload might have allowed him to react more quickly.
• applied full thrust more quickly? The aircraft could've made it to the runway.
• worn his shoulder seatbelt? It may have reduced the severity of his injury enough that he could've helped extricate himself.

Indeed, this succession of pilot errors was cited in the probable cause of the NTSB's accident report:

"The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot's failure to recognize the need for, and to take action to maintain, sufficient airspeed to prevent a stall into the ground during an attempted landing. The pilot also failed to recognize the need for timely and sufficient power application to prevent the stall during an approach conducted inadvertently without flaps extended. Contributing to the pilot's inability to sufficient power application to prevent the stall during an approach conducted recognize the problem and to take proper action was his failure to use the appropriate checklist and his nonstandard pattern procedures which resulted in an abnormal approach profile."

To err is human - all pilots make mistakes. The key is not going into a situation where a few simple mistakes can be deadly. Thus I view this accident as the result of a single failure: Munson's judgement.

Munson exercised poor judgement by chosing to conduct a complicated flight in a high-performance aircraft in which he had little experience. He could have flown a more simple flight plan at higher alitude doing basic maneuvers, or even waited to demonstrate his new aircraft for his friends until he had accumulated more flight hours in the cockpit.

I'm reminded of some advice my flight instructor once shared: "Takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory. Sometimes the best flight is the one not taken."

References
NTSB accident investigation report (PDF)
ESPN article from 2004

Seven years ago today began like any other day... except for the crow.

As I walked towards Hazelrigg Hangar where I worked as a flight test engineer, my gaze drifted above the building's distinct external truss roofline to marvel at the glowing purple pre-dawn sky over the Chesapeake Bay. Perched on the peak of a truss I noticed a crow and for some strange reason the deep purple sky behind the bird suddenly felt ominous. "Something is going to happen today" I found myself muttering; quickly I silently chided myself for being so superstitious.

Soon I'd forgotten about that silly crow and was busy with the work of getting my F/A-18F Super Hornet ready for testing. I can't remember what we were testing or even if we flew that day, but I do remember when an image appeared that afternoon on the TV screen from a camera monitoring the runway at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

A small aircraft sat motionless on the runway with a white sheet covering the cockpit, surrounded by rescue personnel. We recognized the aerobatic aircraft as one of two Extra 300's being used by the Navy Test Pilot School (TPS). One of our colleagues was enrolled there and we all had trouble focusing on our work until we were able to check the schedule and confirm that our buddy wasn't flying at the time.

Later that day our boss, test conductor Howard Gofus, got a phone call. The news wasn't good - he relayed to us that LCDR Christopher Tragna had died in the accident. "Trags?!" was my immediate reply; I can still hear the surprise in my voice.

Trags had been one of the test pilots assigned to our group, flying the Super Hornets we tested before he moved on to become an instructor at TPS. He was the pilot for several test flights on my aircraft and our personalities were a good match; preflight and postflight briefings always went well when his name was on the flight cards.

One of my favorite memories of Trags occurred during a test plan review. The plan was not very well written and I frequently proposed changes to improve the document. The plan's author became impatient with me, asserting that since all of the correct technical information was in the plan, why bother fixing the language?

Most test pilots always seem to be in a hurry and would've sided with the author, eager to approve the plan and go flying. When the author lamented my attention to detail, Trags responded that he was happy to see an engineer who knew how to write. In fact, Trags had a long list of his own suggested changes! I replied that it was equally refreshing to have a pilot who appreciated good writing.

Trags was a quiet and thoughtful guy - not your typical test pilot - yet he was also intensely intelligent. Unfortunately I didn't get to know Trags more closely; I began working at Pax River just six months before he transferred to TPS. Eight months later he was gone.

As I walked out of the hangar after work I looked over my shoulder and was startled to recall the eerie premonition from the morning. If nothing had happened I would've completely forgotten about seeing that crow.

The sun was setting and I thought about the advice my mentor, Chris Blundell, had given me about the culture of flight testing: "Remember that sooner or later, one of the guys sitting across the table from you in the preflight briefing won't come back."

Haven and I having a blast racing in the 2008 Bailey's Doggie Dash.

Since I began running almost five years ago I've participated in 25 races (including 3 adventure races) but surprisingly only three events have been repeats. Twice each I've run the Grand Rapids Marathon and the Irish Jig 5K, and now I can add Bailey's Doggie Dash to the list for the fourth time!

My first ever organized race was the 2005 edition of the Doggie Dash and it's been an annual staple for Haven and I ever since. Why? You'll be hard pressed to find more fun packed into a 5K!


Haven poses as Amanda takes advantage of beautiful photography settings.

Haven has always been a fast runner - after all, she's a dog! They're born to run, even the lazy ones. :) My training over the years has helped me keep up with her and our Doggie Dash results show a favorable trend:

2005 Bailey's Doggie Dash - 24:39 - 10th overall, 1st/1 age group
2006 Bailey's Doggie Dash - 22:42 - 5th overall, 1st/4 age group
2007 Bailey's Doggie Dash - 20:17 - 3rd overall, 2nd/3 age group

(A note about the age groups... Yes, I "won" my age group in 2005 by being the only runner in it! Although technically I'll never truly win my age group as long as Joel Bierling and his dog Anubis are here - they've won the Doggie Dash outright every year since 2004, and Joel is my age. In fact the top three humans in 2007 were all 31 years old!)


The one and only Bailey, the "assistant race director" of Bailey's Doggie Dash.

Could Haven and I continue to improve in 2008? Sadly, no - I am still recovering from a lingering hamstring injury and knew going into the event that I would not be able to run near full speed, but Haven didn't get the memo...

We lined up behind the chalk line with "START" scrawled on the pavement - part of the appeal of this race is how casual and old-school it is - and Haven immediately began screaming in excitement! Just like before last year's race - she knew exactly what was going on and just couldn't wait to get going.



Krista Durham heard Haven (who couldn't?) and walked over to say hi as I tried to buckle the Ruff Wear Roamer leash around my waist. Krista and Ron discovered the Doggie Dash - and indirectly their dog Kasey - last year thanks to my blog! In 2007 Ron won his age group but this year was Krista's turn and she assured me that she was no threat to win an award.


Race director Kevin Sweeney "barks" out final instructions before the start of Bailey's Doggie Dash.
Photo courtesy of Jim Falk, Kent County Parks Foundation. The race is held at Wabasis Park in Kent County, and 100% of the entry fees are donated to the Foundation.

Finally we were off! As you can see in the photo below, even though I was trying to go easy Haven was definitely in afterburner. The pack began to thin out a bit when suddenly a Golden Retriever whizzed past... off leash! I heard a woman behind me calling for her dog but it was having too much fun! I stopped a couple times to try and snag its leash but without luck; however, the dog was soon back in hand.


Haven launches us off to a quick start - who do you think is having more fun?

Heading up the first hill from the boat launch a young Husky mix kept trying to play with Haven, but Haven wasn't here for games - she wanted to catch the lady in front of us! To Haven's chagrin I instead struck up a conversation with Neil, the owner of the playful Isla. This was Neil's 4th or 5th Doggie Dash but the 1st for recently-adopted Isla - in previous years Neil had to borrow his daughter's dog!

Going downhill pulled away from Neil and Isla and Haven settled in behind a woman and her Irish Setter, who was also using a hands-free leash like us. We followed about half a mile, reaching the 1-mile mark where I realized I'd forgotten to start my watch! I started it here and based on my finish time, was able to deduce later that Haven and I posted an 8:16 first mile, faster than I've run in a long time.


Neil Bierling and Isla work their way up a hill.

Once again it was a downhill section that allowed us to pass a runner and Haven and it made the turn onto the wooded trail section of the course. With nobody in sight ahead or behind us, Haven must've realized the sudden privacy - she stopped for some "business"! Fortunately I carried a couple Business Bags in my pocket and cleared the trail of landmines, but then had to carry the live ordnance until we found a trash can! When all was said and done it was almost a one minute delay.

A few dogs and people passed us during the pit stop and I must've subconsciously accelerated a bit - we ran the second mile at a 9:05 pace including the poop delay, but by this point Haven was finally growing tired of giving my pace a free ride. The leash went slack and I was on my own!

Surprisingly I felt pretty good but I didn't let the slow pace fool me into thinking I was fit enough for anything faster. We jogged through the campground where a camping family was watching with their dog. They asked me about race and I ran backwards a few steps as I explained the basics before Haven coaxed me onwards.


Haven and I cresting the final hill and still having fun.

At long last the final uphill was in sight and we did our best to maintain momentum. Along this stretch of road Amanda was lurking on the shoulder to snap some photos with the amazing fall colors in the background. Every year the Doggie Dash has seen great weather - clear, sunny, cool, and leaves every color but green.

Cresting the hill I noticed that Neil and Isla weren't far behind, so Haven and I made sure we didn't get lazy as we chugged towards the finish line. Woo hoo! Yep, it's an old-school event - no chip timing here. A volunteer ripped the perforated tab from my bib number while another wrote down my time on a clipboard. 26:59 was written by my number, probably my slowest 5K ever but also among the most enjoyable!


Juanita Stasik and Lance working hard - well, one of them is working hard. :)

The last mile clocked about 8:45 - not having Haven's help really exposed my slowness! We hung out at the finish to watch some other folks finish, including a couple of my friends from work. Juanita Stasik and her yellow lab Lance were running their second Doggie Dash after discovering the event in 2007.


Bob Fry and Monty make their way to the finish. Monty was glad for the cool, 45-degree weather!

Making his first Doggie Dash appearance was Bob Fry and his Pomeranian mix Monty. Bob is one the guys I run with at work during lunch (when my leg is healthy) and a former Boston Marathoner. Notice that "50" on his shirt - I'll bet that he and I were the only two runners wearing shirts from a 50-mile ultramarathon! Monty probably took as many steps in this 5K as Bob does in a 50K!

Now it was time for the treats - dog biscuits for Haven and Halloween candy for me! Race director Kevin Sweeney sure knows how to dish out a post-race spread! He also knows how to organize a smooth event - low tech, low stress, high class and high fun!


Haven is in full-on begging mode, explaining in dog language why she deserves yet another biscuit!

Once all the runners and walkers had finished it was time for the awards. First up were the door prizes and I finally won! The loot was a hand-made blanket - I've been pining for one of those hand-made dog beds and blankets that are given out each year.


The little wizard, winner of the Bailey's Choice costume award.

Next were the costume winners as chosen by local meteorologist Peter Chan - many great outfits but there was a certain charm about the winner - a little wizard. And finally the running awards... Once again Joel Bierling and Anubis won overall but he had to pass a high school cross country runner on the last hill to earn his victory! If that kid is back next year, Joel and Anubis are in trouble. A girl from the same high school took a close 2nd overall for women, too!

I should mention that trophies are handed out for the people and engraved bowls for the dogs! Three deep in each age group, so there's a lot of hardware going home. Neil and Isla won their age group as did Bob and Monty! However Bob had already headed home, so after the awards I got their trophies and dropped them off with Bob at work. He has two other dogs besides Monty and he thinks they'll be jealous of Monty's engraved bowl.

Not to be outdone by our co-worker, Juanita and Lance went home with some hardware, too! They finished 3rd in her age group, a task made easier by arriving on time. Last year Juanita took a wrong turn while driving to the park and started the race 10 minutes late! Apparently she still had so much fun that she came back for more.


Krista Durham and Kasey try to shrug off their award after promising at the start to not win one. ;)

Remember Krista's promise that Kasey wasn't going to win anything? Wrong - they placed 3rd in their age group! Kasey is 2-for-2 with trophies and now has more than either of his owners. Ron had his own race the next day - the Grand Rapids Marathon as his first 26.2 and he rocked it with a 3:37! Wow.

Finally it was time for my age group and... nothing. Lots of guys in their 30s can run faster than gimpy me, so poor Haven had to endure the shame of no engraved bowl this year. But hey, we won a blanket!


Haven relaxes on our door prize, an evidently comfy hand-made blanket.

Even though it's only a 20-minute drive home, Haven slept the entire way - she was one worn-out pup. We posed for our photo in front of the burning bush in what has become a post-race tradition, then went inside to indulge in more treats. As if Bailey's Doggie Dash wasn't enough of a treat already!


The traditional post-race photo - we'll be back in 2009!

No worries about gas prices when running on human power!

For several years I've been hoping to go for an epic bike ride from my house in Lowell to my parents' house in Ann Arbor, a distance of roughly 120 miles. With my recovering hamstring preventing me from planning any running races, I thought that maybe this year I could squeeze in an all-day bike ride.

However, "real life" gets in the way as it often does and I wasn't able to put in enough training to prepare. Sure I could've pulled it off, but I figure that to do something like riding my bike across an entire state ought to be done right. For example, a decent road bike would help compared to my 6-year-old "comfort bike".

Yeah, that's what my Giant Cypress DX is called and it's since been "tricked out" with a new seat (twice), bar-end hand grips, new pedals and second-hand pedal clips, bottle rack, speedometer, rear rack, and a cheap bike computer. It has served me well over the years on the roads, mountain bike trails, and even in adventure races. But it's not a fast bike.

A few years ago I bought a 25-year-old Peugot road bike for $65 just to see what a road bike feels like. Despite being an old 10-speed I easily averaged a full 1 mph faster on my standard routes. That bike is now in need of repair so the Cypress is all I have, meaning that a 120-mile ride would take 10-12 hours including food stops whereas a nice road bike could shave a few hours off of that time.


Ready to ride despite the rain.

Instead I planned a ride that traveled 55 miles, starting near Lansing and finishing at my parents' house. Last Sunday Amanda dropped me off near Webbersville at the I-96 exit in a heavy, steady rain! I was standing in a two-inch deep puddle as I unloaded my bike from the car and got ready to go. Due to the weather I had to keep all of my gear in a dry-bag bungeed to the rack on my bike and I wore a rain jacket to stay warm. You can see what the weather was like in Amanda's video:



The first 15 miles of my ride were solo as I pedaled my way to Stockbridge where I would meet Dad. It took me about an hour despite a strong WNW crosswind on my southbound road and the steady rain blurring up my sunglasses. Believe it or not I found the glasses to be of help because they kept splashes and road grit out of my eyes, but also being polarized it really cut down the glare from the wet road.


No frogs here, yet...

Worse than the wind and the rain were the frogs - dead ones. The shoulder of the road was littered with hundreds of dead frogs! I don't know why so many were trying to cross and getting hit and why they ended up on the shoulder but I was constantly weaving my tires among the slimy amphibian bodies, not wanting to get a taste of frog leg sushi kicked up into my mouth!

Finally I made it to Stockbridge and rendez-voused with my parents. Dad's raincoat was rather heavy - it's meant for field work, not cycling - so Mom offered him the $1 "emergency poncho" that she keeps in her car. He was quite pleased although the poncho went down to his knees and he just about fell over trying to hop on his bike when the plastic caught on his seat! Mom had to trim off a foot or so of plastic and after the obligatory photo, we were on our way.


Dad and I are "waterproofed" prior to hitting the Lakelands Trail

Our route took advantage of the Lakelands Trail, a linear state park created as a Rails to Trails project. The first several miles of the trail were packed dirt that was rather rough in some areas due to horse traffic. We'd had several days of rain here in Michigan and the ground was wet but not soft. The bumpiness was pretty rough on me as Dad kept looking back wondering why I was lagging behind. I think his fresh legs had a bit more pep that mine after having ridden for an hour just to meet him!

Soon after starting down the trail the rain stopped and since the temperature was already 70 degrees even in the rain, we were plenty comfortable. It was actually splendid weather for a ride with overcast skies, a now NW breeze and warm air temps.

When my water bottle ran dry we stopped in Pinckney at a gas station to refill and we also chomped on some food: a Power Bar for Dad and some Clif Bloks for me. When planning the ride we talked about stopping here for food but we both were feeling very good and decided to just continue to our "dessert stop", a Dairy Queen in Hamburg.

For quite a while I was telling stories about the interesting politics I've been getting involved with in Lowell, only to be occasionally interrupted when Dad would point out one of "his" many projects in the area - a water tower, a subdivision, a boardwalk, and more - he's a land development civil engineer with lots of handiwork in Livingston County.

Suddenly Dad said "Oops!" It turns out he completely missed the turn for Dairy Queen! We'd been distracted by the conversation and since I've never been on the trail before, I was relying on his navigation. We only went about half a mile out of our way so it wasn't too bad, and when Dairy Queen is the destination you don't lose any motivation to get there.

At the DQ Dad got a large chocolate shake and I ordered a Blizzard with M&Ms, but asked if they could use chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla. The guy at the counter suggested their "Chocolate Extreme" flavor - chocolate ice cream with hot fudge syrup, fudge brownie chunks, and pieces of hard chocolate mixed in. Awesome! Yes, I love chocolate, but I also learned that even I have limits - a large Blizzard more than filled me up, but it was worth it.

Sitting at the outdoor table at DQ my dad whipped out his Blackberry and showed off some coolness, like how he can pull up a weather radar image. Days before our ride he had mentioned this and I teased him, saying "How would that help us on the ride? Are we going to see imminent rain and decide to pedal faster?"

We'd been riding precipitation-free for hours but looking at his Blackberry the radar image showed that a ton of rain was right upon us despite the bright but overcast skies. Wouldn't you know it... five minutes later as we pulled out of the DQ parking lot some big, fat drops of water started to fall! We could only laugh at the irony and besides, we'd been soaking wet since Stockbridge.

Soon we were at the end of Lakelands Trail and heading south on back roads near US-23 on our way home. The skies never did manage to open up - occasionally it would sprinkle a bit but then stop. Since the rain was coming from the NW and we were riding south I think we were keeping ahead of the weather.

Recharged with chocolate I was feeling pretty good but Dad was starting to tire out and we took a couple of extended water breaks on the side of the road to rest the legs. With about five miles to go our quads began to cramp up - both of us at the same time! Yet fortunately a couple miles later our legs relented and allowed us to finish our ride in comfort.


All smiles after dozens of miles.

But not in style - the first thing Mom said when we pulled into the driveway was "Wow, you're muddy!" Actually I didn't think it was that bad, but Mom insisted on a "rear-end view" photo nonetheless. Dad explained how only a two mile stretch of Warren Road was to blame - the rest of the entire route was paved or puddle-less dirt.


If Mom thinks this is "muddy", wait until we go mountain biking!

Dad and I also discovered that one or both of our bike computers isn't calibrated correctly - mine had logged a couple more miles than Dad's over the same course! I used MapMyRun to determine that my Webberville-to-Stockbridge solo ride was 15.2 "mapped" miles compared to 15.4 "computed" miles so it seems mine is a bit off. However, it's hard to say for sure about the rest of the ride since our double-back for missing Hamburg can only be guessed for distance.

All told my computer showed 55.3 miles, so assuming that it's off by 0.2 every 15.4, my total distance would be 54.6 - not a major error. I'll just call it 55 miles and be content.

Soon after getting home the "Blackberry rain" arrived and it began to pour cats and dogs. Two of the dogs were mine - Haven and Beacon arrived with Amanda and her parents, as did Ryan and Megan. We all (except the dogs) went to dinner at Red Robin where it rained even harder and the restaurant even lost power for a couple seconds before the backup kicked in! Perhaps it was a good day to not be riding 120 miles after all!

Overall the ride was a total blast and surprisingly "easy" if 50+ miles can ever be deemed easy. The route was pancake flat except for a few short hills between Hamburg and Ann Arbor and traffic on the non-trail roads was never a problem. My legs were sore for the next couple days but I never felt bonky or worn out. I'm already thinking about doing this again! But not this weekend. :)

4th of July weekend I set out for the fourth time in my new inline skates; my previous three sorties carried me 7.5, 7.5, and 5 miles. I figured it was time to stretch into the double digits so I drove over to the White Pine Trail and laced up the boots.

Almost three hours later I arrived back at the car after covering 33.4 miles! I felt great - yes, I was definitely tired, and my heart rate had been 150-170 (that's above "easy run" range for me) the whole way - but I was nowhere near toasted. My quads felt a bit crampy over the last half hour but not painful. Before setting out I was confident that I could finish 30+ miles, but I never thought I'd cover it in 2:58 and still have some pep left over.

Last Sunday I talked Amanda into joining me on the White Pine Trail again, but instead of skates she was riding her bike. The night before she kept telling me "I think I only want to go to Rockford" (that's an 8 mile round trip) and I assured her that we'd just go until she got tired then turn around since it's uphill going north and downhill back south.

After riding and skating for an hour I asked her to check her bike computer and it read 10 miles, but we hadn't turned around yet! I knew that Amanda had been selling herself short the night before. We continued on since Amanda felt OK still, but within a couple miles she wanted to turn around. I pressed her on for another mile since then we could say we did a marathon.

And we did, going 26.8 miles in 2:31 although strangely I felt more tired than after my 33-miler. Amanda totally bonked at the two-hour mark and we inched along for about 10 minutes until her system finally rebooted and we cruised back to the car.

As impressive as it felt to be skating along at 11 mph for 2-3 hours, it blows me away that elite runners would've dusted me! I skated a 2:30 marathon and folks out there can run that same distance in less time. Wow.

Having stayed up until 2am last night this morning to watch the entirety of the 2008 MLB All-Star Game, I better make it worth my while and share some insight from my bleary mind. For those of you wise enough to get a good night's sleep, the game lasted 15 innings before the tie was broken, giving the American League a 4-3 victory that awards home field advantage to whichever AL team reaches the World Series.

Yes, you read that right - an exhibition game that impacts the results of baseball's crowning event. Why would the MLB do something so silly? To avoid something even sillier - an All-Star game that nobody cares about.

Tell a professional athlete that winning doesn't matter and the athlete won't show up, choosing instead to rest his worn out body for the remaining half of a season that does matter. Tell a fan that the players don't care, and the fan won't pay money to watch the event. So what to do?

After the 2002 All-Star game embarrassment (that ended in a tie after just 11 innings when both teams ran out of pitchers) the MLB decided to put the World Series home field advantage at stake in hopes that the players would care enough to show up and play hard, despite the slight risk of injury that any sport entails. The managers, it was hoped, would save enough pitchers in reserve to go the distance no matter how long the game lasted.

It just doesn't work that way. Pitching takes such a toll on the arm that many All-Star hurlers will adjust their usage before and/or after the game to accomodate the extra stress. Regular season games are played just two days before and two days after the All-Star game, giving pitchers little time to recover.

Most starting pitchers are limited to around 100 pitches per start - more than that might increase the risk of injury. Consider that the Milwaukee Brewers were so desperate for quality pitching that they traded their top prospect for a stud starter, CC Sabathia, just a week ago. Yet their staff ace, Ben Sheets, tossed 42 pitches yesterday. Should the Brewers be forced to sacrifice half a game of ace pitching while in the thick of a playoff race?

Milwaukee's division rival, the Chicago Cubs, saw three of their best pitchers throw 57 pitches combined. That almost seems fair until you realize that the St. Louis Cardinals - in the playoff race with the Brewers and Cubs - saw its hurlers throw zero pitches because none of them were good enough to be All-Stars.

In truth, the All-Star game will never be fair - after all, due to the whimsical nature of fan voting many of MLB's best players don't even get invited. Fundamentally the All-Star game is still an exhibition, so I wish baseball would stop pretending that "This One Counts" (the pleadingly sappy official motto of the 2003 contest) and instead come up with a solution along the lines of "We Care" because that's all that matters for an exhibition.

My proposal is to run the All-Star game as a charity contest:
-- Each player voted into the game selects a charity to represent.
-- MLB lines up corporate sponsors to ante up a significant pot of cash.
-- Players on the winning team split the cash as donations made in their name to their chosen charity.

Further, bonuses could be handed out, such as:
-- An "MVP sponsor" gives a extra bonus to the charity of the player who wins the MVP;
-- Additional sponsors could hand out bonuses for players hitting home runs or pitchers getting strikeouts;
-- The home run derby could have "jackpot" bullseye targets in the bleachers that could earn extra donations if struck.

And so on. If a player wants to back out of the game to go fishing instead, he'll have to endure the boos of fans for turning his back on a charity. Rather than being a physical burden, it would be an emotional honor for a player to compete.

Since the game has zero impact on regular season or post-season games, there's no need to drag it on for extra innings because something affecting the players' professional future is at stake. Instead a tiebreaker can be used - remember, it's just an exhibition put on for the fans. Some have suggested that a home-run derby can break a tie, but that's rather anti-climatic.

An exciting tiebreaker would be if the game is tied after nine innings then each subsequent inning starts with the bases loaded. The highlight of last night was when the AL loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th inning with nobody out (albeit due to two errors and a walk) but failed to score a run as Aaron Cook induced three straight ground ball outs, getting two force outs at home plate.

If the current version of the All-Star game is so ho-hum, why did I watch? Because I'm a die hard baseball fan without cable TV, so I watch any televised game I can. Amanda is a baseball fan, too, but she decided to count sheep instead of innings. Fans don't care about World Series home field advantage in July. Fans do care about seeing their favorite players together on one field as they exhibition the skills that make them such beloved athletes.

When running on roads I wave to passing drivers, especially if they give me a little extra space on the shoulder.  It shows my appreciation for their efforts to put me more at ease, but I also want to remind them that runners and cyclists are people and by waving, it likewise conveys that I recognize them as people even though they're in a vehicle.  My hope is that by seeing each other not as competing "motor vehicles" vs. "pedestrians" but as two friendly folks crossing paths, that they will be more aware and respectful of the risks they're responsible for when driving. 

While most drivers do wave back to me and smile, many of them do not wave.  Why?  They're holding a steering wheel in one hand and a cell phone in the other.  It's not a physical problem of having both hands full that causes them to not return my friendly gesture - they don't even notice me!  I've observed that drivers on cell phones just stare straight ahead and zoom right on by without even a glance, and without giving me extra clearance despite a clear view on a wide, empty road. 

Studies of cell phone usage while driving have confirmed my observations that such behavior causes visual fixation, reducing peripheral vision and overall situational awareness.  On July 1st, California and Washington will join New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as the states that have enacted laws banning in-hand cell phone usage while driving.  Will these laws improve roadway safety?

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it best in a report on a commercial bus accident (PDF) where a too-tall bus collided with a too-low bridge caused by "the bus driver’s failure to notice and respond to posted low-clearance warning signs and to the bridge itself due to cognitive distraction resulting from conversing on a hands-free cellular telephone while driving." [emphasis mine] While this is just one accident, NTSB investigations are very thorough and they did some digging.  In the report (page 16 for reference) the NTSB cited some cell phone studies and summarized the most critical results:

-- Using a hands-free cell phone is just as risky as using an in-hand cell phone.
-- The risk of a crash increases 30% when simply talking on a cell phone.
-- The risk of a crash TRIPLES when actively dialing a number.
-- The risk of an injury accident QUADRUPLES when using a cell phone.

Critics of the new cell phone laws, however, can point out a couple failings in these measures.  Washington's law is only a "secondary" offense, meaning that the police can't pull you over for talking on the phone - all they can do is give you an extra ticket if you were on the phone when being cited for a "primary" offense such as speeding.  Looking at the below graph of Michigan's historical safety belt use shows the benefits of secondary vs. primary enforcement.  Michigan enacted a secondary seatbelt law in 1985, and upgraded it to a primary offense in 2000.  I imagine that the impact to cell phone use would be similar.


California's law is indeed a primary offense, but insanely does not apply to text messaging except for teenagers.  Texting is certainly more distracting than talking and I find it baffling that the lawmakers didn't include such a provision for adults.  Perhaps those very lawmakers want to continue using their Blackberries while on the road?  I hope not.  Considering that 89% of Americans actually want a ban and evidence that a crash is SIX TIMES as likely while texting, there's no excuse for any state to not outlaw text messaging while driving as a primary offense.

It was after reading the NTSB report over a year ago that I stopped using my cell phone in the car - a 30% risk increase just isn't worth it.  Several more studies lay clear the dangers of driving while "in-talks-icated".  In fact, that drinking-related pun is chillingly appropriate - one study found that cell-phone drivers exhibited greater impairment than intoxicated drivers (PDF).  Perhaps the penalties for using a wireless device while driving should be on par with the penalties for drunk driving, too.

Overall the new laws will improve safety for drivers, runners, cyclists, and anyone else on the roads.  Just like the seatbelt laws helped promote overall safety awareness and voluntary comlpliance, so too could primary regulations that ban the use of wireless devices while driving.  It's unfortunate that these early laws are full of holes even before going into effect, but something is better than nothing.  So I plead to Michigan and the other 44 states without meaningful cell phone laws, "what the h3ll r u w8ing 4?"  Hopefully you aren't reading this while behind the wheel...

From Haven & Beacon

Happy birthday Haven and Beacon! My dogs turned 5 years old yesterday (Haven) and today (Beacon) and we celebrated in style. Beyond the new West Paw Tux toys, silly party hats and whipped cream 'n bread "birthday cake", I also took both dogs down to the river.

From Haven & Beacon

We ran one mile of trails to get there, then I tried not to fall down the steep, muddy hill that descends to the water. Sometimes I throw sticks for them, but this time I went into the river with the dogs, wading upstream as they swam along beside me. After a long night of heavy thunderstorms, the river was deeper than usual and running fast - Haven and Beacon couldn't keep up with me! I had the advantage of long legs that could keep contact with the river bottom to push me forward.

A few times I walked toward shore where the pups could take a breather in shallow water before mushing onward, but eventually we got to a point where the current was flowing so quickly that the dogs could no longer make headway! Time to turn around, and boy was the "float" back downstream an easy one.

While my dogs got to have fun on their birthdays, it's been a rough summer for the dogs of some of my friends. Six weeks ago Paul unexpectedly lost his beloved yellow lab Sky from a heart attack during hip surgery. Sarah's fluffy akita, George, died of bloat on Saturday. Not a day later, Matt and Lisa's greyhound mix Eddie succumbed to cancer just a month after the diagnosis.

All three dogs were exceedingly loved and are dearly missed by my friends. I feel so sad for them - it's just so devastating to lose a furry family member. One hard truth about dogs is that they just don't live long enough - a 10-15 year life expectancy means that the end will always be too soon.

Sky, George, and Eddie all lived wonderful lives and as time heals the grief, hopefully my friends will remember how lucky they and their dogs were to have had each other for so many years.

So much sad news, but it's also a happy day that I'm able to celebrate the 5th birthdays of my two dogs. When they go it will be too soon, but hopefully there will be many more trail runs, river swims, treats and birthdays in between.

Who's having more fun, the guy or the dog?

My favorite race of the year is Bailey’s Doggie Dash 5K, a cross-country run for owners and their dogs to benefit the Kent County Parks Foundation. It’s not a large race, usually drawing around 50 participants, but it’s very well organized and one of the best races around where you can run with your dog.

Haven and I first ran the Doggie Dash in 2005 as my first ever organized running event since high school. That year we finished 10th overall in 24:39 and won my age group by virtue of being the only one in my age group (after they pulled out the overall winner, who had tied the course record in 18:17). In 2006 we improved to 5th overall, dropping nearly two minutes off our time with a 22:42 finish and winning the age group, this time a “large” group of four runners. How would Haven and I fare this year?

Just last week I set a post-high-school 5K PR of 20:56 in the Harvest Hustle so I knew I was better prepared to keep up with Haven in this year’s Doggie Dash. But I also had a plan to use canicross tactics - rather than hold Haven’s leash in my hand, I instead tied it to a belt around my waist so Haven could help pull me along. Haven and I trained in this setup for a few weeks before the race to make sure we both felt comfortable. I learned that it was necessary to have some form of shock absorption so I clamped an automobile tie-down bungee between Haven’s harness and the leash - it worked like a dream.


Haven and I enjoying the perfect pre-race weather.

Saturday morning arrived bringing perfect weather - mid 40’s, clear blue sky, and near-peak fall colors that yielded some stunning photos by Amanda. The Doggie Dash sports a Halloween theme with a dog costume contest judged by the local weatherman Peter Chan and registration SWAG handed out in trick-or-treat jack-o-lanterns.


The "Collie Flowers", contestants for the Bailey's Choice costume prize, are as adorable as they are obedient!

While taking Haven for a warm-up jog a guy came up to me and asked "Is that Haven?" Turns out he recognized us (or rather, my dog!) from reading my blog. If that wasn't amazing enough, Ron Durham told me that he and his wife Krista decided to adopt their dog Kacey in part because of reading about my blogged adventures running with Haven and Beacon!


This is Haven's 3rd Doggie Dash, so she knows when we're about to start and she can't contain her excitement!

I think Haven remembers previous races - when everyone began lining up for the start this year one guy took off on a warm-up jog and Haven must’ve thought the race had begun. Haven started screaming in anticipation as I tried to calm her down - it was so cute and she was getting lots of smiles from the crowd.


GO! The start of the 2007 Bailey's Doggie Dash.

At last it was “Ready, set, GO!” and we were off! Race director Kevin Sweeney pedaled a mountain bike ahead of the lead runner to give his dog something to chase, a very keen idea. Haven bolted full steam ahead and we quickly settled into fifth position. One of the most difficult sections of the course was the beginning because it was downhill and paved - with Haven full of energy dragging me downhill, it was all my legs could do to simply not let me fall flat on my face! My feet and legs took quite a pounding right off the bat.

Next we slogged through a scenic wide-open lawn that was saturated with water and then up a short road to a wooded picnic area. Just before reaching the one-mile marker Haven and I passed two racers who were fading after a quick start. 20 yards ahead was a guy who looked way faster than me but I sped up a bit to keep close to him so that Haven would have someone to chase.


Race director Kevin Sweeney serves as a rabbit on wheels for the dogs at the front of the pack.

She loved it, almost too much! Whenever we rounded a bend Haven tried to cut the corner inside the course flags - she wanted to intercept the runner we were chasing. I repeatedly had to remind Haven to follow the rules but she didn’t want to hear it. Every turn we’d lose 5-10 feet on the guy ahead of us since I’d have slow up to pull Haven outside the marker flags, but then we’d hustle to regain the lost ground.

At the 1 mile mark I was shocked to see 6:20 on my watch! Haven was definitely doing her part and it was fun to still have the leader in sight although I knew it wouldn’t last. Down a slight hill the course turned off into a wooded section of singletrack for a 1/4 mile before heading out and around the beach playground. Here Haven kept trying to stop for a drink in the large puddles of water pooling in the sand. I obliged her at one of them and she tried to lie down in the water to cool off! Sorry Haven but we have to finish the race first!

After the beach we ran along a dirt road and then onto a paved loop that carried us through the park’s campground. We were still close to the #2 runner at the 2 mile mark - our second mile was run at a 6:30 pace! I was getting pretty excited but I also knew that one or both of us were going to hit the wall soon.
It wound up being Haven; shortly after the second mile we started losing contact with the guy ahead of us as Haven no longer had the energy to pull my weight. Running is hard when my dog isn’t helping! Haven and I ran side-by-side for the next half mile as her leash was now slack - she was just trotting but I was trying to run as hard as I could. Dogs were born to run; humans, not so much.


Notice the slack leash and exhausted human - sailing ain't as smooth without my canine tugboat!

With about half a mile to go as we approached a long hill Haven began to fall behind. Going up the hill we reversed roles as I found myself trying to pull Haven along! I tried yelling “RABBITS!!” to her, a word that usually gets her all spooled up (she LOVES to chase rabbits) but she was to tired to care. Finally at the top of the hill we had just a 1/4 mile to go and I still couldn’t get her to pull even with me.

Even though I knew we were losing time quickly, this wasn’t my race - Haven was every bit a part of this effort and it wouldn’t be fair to speed up and drag her to the finish. I did keep the pace fast enough to maintain some tension - I figured I might as well help her out a bit without pulling so hard as to bunch the harness up around her head.


Haven and I cruising down the home stretch.

Finally in the last 100 yard grassy home stretch I tried another “RABBITS!!” but Haven was done, so we maintained our pace to the finish for a very satisfying 3rd place overall. Better yet was our time... 20:17! That was the second-fastest 5K I’ve ever run in my life, even though I had some help. My high school PR was 20:08 and my next-best teenage run was 21:13. Haven is my hero!

Seriously, Haven was the hardest-working dog at the race. Both runners who finished ahead of us had humans that were much more fit than I am while their greyhound-mix dogs were running alongside on a slack leash; i.e. the guys who beat us did so without the canine assistance that I needed. Some other dogs behind us were certainly pulling their owners, but at 195 pounds I was probably the heaviest human cargo to be mushed by any dog. Those greyhounds couldn’t have outrun Haven if I were dragging them down!


Ron Durham and Kasey at the finish, proving that running with dogs is fun!

Post-race food was great - bagels, cookies, candy and cider for the humans and water and doggie biscuits for the canines. Naturally Haven got to eat first before I took a crack at the goodies as we watched the rest of the field finish with the song “Who Let the Dogs Out” blaring on repeat over the loudspeakers.

After everyone finished we were treated to a demonstration of frisbee dogs by Pawsitive Vybe’s professional dog trainers Apryl Lea and Ron Sutton. Spectacular show! Six dogs (IIRC) displayed their talents and some of them were insanely good leapers and blazing runners.


Apryl Lea shows off the amazing frisbee skills of one of her dogs.

Following the frisbee demo was the awards ceremony. Some very nice handmade dog beds were raffled off and for the third year in a row, I didn’t win one. One guy that did win a bed and a free pair of shoes was Ron! This was on top of him and Kacey winning his age group. I have a feeling they might make the drive from the east side of Michigan to run again next year. :)

Despite our 3rd place overall finish Haven and I wound up taking 2nd in my age group as the guy we’d been chasing for two miles is in my bracket. In fact the overall winner Joel Bierling - who also won in 2005 and 2006 - is in my age group, too, so technically I was 3rd overall and 3rd in my age group. Men 30-35 were representin’ at the Doggie Dash!


Haven and I at home showing off our hardware.

There was no way I could’ve caught either of those fast runners, but in retrospect I probably could’ve helped Haven and I get a faster time if I’d managed Haven’s workload more effectively. For the first mile there was nothing I could do but hang on for the ride, but mile 1.5 through 2.0 I should’ve quickened my pace a tad to ease the drag on Haven; that way she may have sustained her energy long enough to keep the both of us on the tail of the #2 finisher for another half mile until finally running the last half mile with a slack leash and not having to pull her.

Nevertheless, we ran an awesome race, had a ton of fun, and we’re already looking forward to the 2008 Doggie Dash!

T'was a busy weekend. Awake by 0600 on Saturday for the Reeds Lake Run, then get ready for my little brother Ryan's bachelor party! I had about two hours at home between the race and getting back in the car to drive to Midland for his celebration which included grilling out on a softball field, playing frisbee golf, taking in a minor league baseball game, then hitting the cursory bar for a few drinks. Poor Ryan had to wear a plastic ball and chain around his ankle all day (amazingly he was still good at frisbee golf while wearing it!), a giant sombrero, and a t-shirt with a picture of a pinata and the caption "I'd Hit It". I wish I'd remembered to take a photo! I didn't get home until after 0300!

Sunday Amanda and I took Eddie to meet his future "parents" and otherwise tried to take it easy. However, Haven and Beacon started giving me those soulful looks of "let's go do something!" so I decided to take them to the river. After all, the weather was perfect - upper 60's, sunny, and a light breeze. My legs were a bit tired from Saturday's two races but good enough that we bypassed the river access near the parking area and jogged half a mile on the trail up and over a large hill to the prime river access point.

Rather than throw sticks for fetching, this time I took the dogs for a walk, or rather a "wade", up the river! The recent dry spell had lowered the water level enough that I could walk the 50 yards across the river without getting deeper than my knees. Even the dogs were mostly walking or bunny-hopping in the shallow water. We waded about a 1/4 mile upstream to a section of small rapids where there were a couple "nozzle" points that had rather strong flow. It was strong enough that I had trouble standing and the dogs had to swim as hard as they could just to stand still. We had fun playing in the rapids - I walked up the "nozzle" then back through while the dogs went for a theme-park-like ride through the chute!

Finally we jogged back to the parking area, a dirt cul-de-sac next to an old boy scout cabin. Haven loves to eat weeds (I have no idea why!) and there were some nice, long, un-mowed weeds in back of the cabin. As she bent down to grab a bite I was about to scold her when suddenly a whitetail deer fawn sprung out of the weeds! Haven was startled for just a split second before she gave chase, and Beacon soon joined her as they pursued the poor little deer around the building.

The fawn was a bit taller than my dogs, but clearly much scrawnier and probably only weighed 50 lbs to my dogs 65-70 lbs each. As the trio rounded the corner I heard the fawn start bleating like a goat, crying "Mmmaaah! Mmmaaah!" over and over - I feared that my dogs were going to kill it! I sprinted around the opposite side of the cabin, hoping to head them off and get between the predators and the prey to prevent serious harm.

To my surprise, when I rounded the cabin the fawn was nowhere to be seen! My dogs love to scarf their food, but no way did they eat that fawn. :) Beacon was in the parking lot scanning every which way trying to spot the deer. Haven, however, was one step ahead - she was sniffing underneath a wooden staircase. I walked over to grab Haven when the fawn clambered out from under the stairs right past Haven, who merely sniffed it as it started to run away again.

Seeing it run excited my dogs enough to give chase. While faster than me, the fawn wasn't nearly strong enough to outclass adult canine speed and my dogs closed in quickly as the fawn raced down the road. Knowing I couldn't accomplish anything by chasing, I ran back to the car and opened the back door, hoping to signal my dogs that it's "time to go" - usually they'll jump right in. Then it occurred to me... What if mommy deer hears the bleating and comes after my dogs? Luckily I was the only "adult" around!

When I turned back to the action, I saw one of the most improbable sights of my life - the fawn was standing frozen with Haven and Beacon motionless on either side of it!!! I so wish I'd had a camera right then. The fawn must've tired out or realized it couldn't outrun the dogs. Haven and Beacon started to sniff the fawn when Bambi decided to go on the offensive - it reared back and head-butted Beacon just like a goat would do! Beacon was startled and jumped back. Bambi lunged again and Beacon got down in a dog's "play bow" with his front paws down and butt in the air.

Beacon put a couple juke moves on the fawn, feinting left and right and when Bambi went for another "attack" Beacon ran away back to me for safety! I was really cracking up at this point. A little fawn put the smack down on big bad Beaks! Confirming my idea to open the car door, Beacon jumped right up onto the seat and I quickly closed the door to finally contain one dog.

Looking back to Haven, she was trying to sniff the fawn just like she would greet a new foster dog. She was trying to make friends! But the fawn was understandably less trusting and kept trying to head-butt Haven, moves that Haven was easily able to dodge. Finally I think Haven got tired of this belligerent potential pal and she came running back to me to see what happened to Beacon. I got her in the car just as Bambi turned to lope out of sight down the road.

Amanda couldn't believe me when I told her the story and she really wishes she could've seen it. I'm still amazed that the dogs didn't injure the fawn, but even more incredible is that they wanted to play with it! That image of Haven and Beacon standing either side of the fawn is permanently etched in my memory... Classic. I'll probably never see something like that again, but still I hope that someday the dogs will encounter another fawn and try to play with it. My dogs never cease to amaze!

For the full race report, see the article in my Why Run? blog.

For a video my wife took of me at the finish, visit my personal blog.

This year we're keeping track of our dogs' activities and thanks to Saturday's race and an easy run with Haven yesterday, the dogs can boast some milestones:

Haven - 202 miles running, 5 hours swimming
Beacon - 150 miles running, 9 hours swimming

The miles include on-leash running and off-leash running and hiking; the swimming is mostly fetching sticks in the river. If we could teach them to ride a bike they'd make great triathletes!

Amanda is a bit worried because Haven is keeping up with her! Amanda is at 208 miles, so I'm teasing her by saying I'll take Haven for a 12-miler this weekend. Although Haven needn't worry because I have yet to see Amanda swim in the river with a stick in her mouth. :)

*** For a race report with photos, visit my Why Run? blog ***

What is more fun than running a race? Running a race with my dogs! This morning I was joined by Haven and Beacon for the 1st annual Healthy Paws Healthy Cause Fun Run, a 4-mile event for dogs and their people. I've done two 5Ks with Haven before, but I've never attempted a race while being hitched to both of my wannabe sled dogs! This should be interesting...

The event was organized by the Cascade Hospital for Animals with proceeds to benefit Mackenzie's Animal Sanctuary. There were no age groups, awards, or even official results - it's just what it says, a "fun run" to get folks out enjoying the morning with their dogs. Over 80 people signed up, not bad for the first ever event. The race director I recognized (via her dog!) as Dr. Happel, the runner that I barely out-kicked at the finish of the 2006 Bailey's Doggie Dash (if you follow the link, she's in the orange shirt in the photos on the bottom row of the page).

Going into this race I wasn't planning to run all out; rather, I wanted to maintain a tempo pace as best I could but primarily just have fun with Haven and Beacon. Since most participants were planning to walk, I lined up near the front; there were about 7 runners ahead of me. Dogs and people were still milling about - in fact, one lady was petting Haven - when the race director shouted out "Five seconds!" And we're off!

The guy at the front broke free quickly and Haven and Beacon decided to chase him - hard! I had no choice but to join their pursuit and within 100 yards of the start we had passed everyone except the leader! It turns out that only eight people were running; the rest were walkers. I pulled alongside the front guy and we sheepishly confided that it felt rather weird to be leading a race. We kept looking back for a while, assuming that some fast runners would blow by us.

We chatted for the first mile where I learned that his dog - weimaraner named Bailey (not the one from Bailey's Doggie Dash) - was five years old, just a year old than my two pups. She loves the water and behaves well on a leash; so well in fact that the guy (funny how I know his dog's name but never learned his!) had the handle of his flexi-lead in his shorts pocket the whole time. If I tried that with my dogs they'd rip my shorts right off me!

With Haven and Beacon leading the way we cruised past the first mile marker in 6:45, a very fast pace for me. The course then ascended a moderate hill and Bailey's owner exlaimed "Uh oh Bailey, daddy's not feeling too good!" and sure enough, he began to fall back as my dogs pulled me upward. Going down the hill my feet were burning - I realized that I hadn't tied my shoelaces tight enough and the soles of my feet were sliding along the bed of my shoe.

Mile two was the beginning of an undulating portion of the course, most of which was run on paved pedestrian paths. With nobody to chase, Haven and Beacon slowed their pace and were no longer pulling me up the hills. Around mile 2.5 Bailey and her owner caught up with us and we ran side-by-side for the next half mile. This time we didn't say anything as we all needed to conserve our oxygen.

Somehow I must've programmed my dogs for a 5K distance (maybe they read my blog?) because soon after we passed the third mile marker (in 21:50, not bad!) they slowed waaaay down. Bailey and her runner kept their momentum going and pulled steadily away from us as I was forced to drag Haven and Beacon forward! Those lazy dogs. :) Finally they realized I wasn't going to stop and they ran beside me the rest of the way.

We passed some pedestrians going the opposite way to relayed to me that the guy ahead of me "was very concerned that I would catch him", but I told them he had nothing to worry about. Not only were my dogs worn out, I was out of energy as well and we struggled most of the last mile. After passing Amanda with her camera, we finally reached the finish line! Sure enough Bailey had won and Haven and Beacon shared second place just one minute behind in 30:29. It was about five minutes until the next runners began showing up. Walkers continued to trickle into the finish for the next hour.

The organizers thought of everything, providing water (for both humans and canines), bagels, bananas, donuts, and dog treats for the finishers. Haven and Beacon eagerly helped themselves to some water while I shared a banana with Haven. After eating my peanut-covered donut, the dogs both got some treats and then finally I remembered to drink some water myself. Once we got home Amanda had the three of us pose for the obligatory post-race photo, all sporting our event t-shirt and bandanas. Haven and Beacon are now fast asleep at my feet. :) What a fun race!

A fairly light week as I'm taking today off to rest up for my race tomorrow - a 4-mile run with my dogs! For the first time I'll be racing with both Haven and Beacon instead of just one dog, so we'll see how that goes. On Monday I took both of them out for a 4-mile training run to make sure everything works - my leash system, my dogs, and my feet. We managed an 8:47 pace in hot weather, so I think we'll be OK. I'm not going to be racing all out but I want to at least maintain a tempo pace if the dogs let me.

Tuesday was supposed to be a fartlek session that turned into suffering! Heat stress. I ran 3.3 miles of fartlek alternating between 7:00 and 9:30 paces (estimated) but on the way back I only managed a couple more speedy minutes before being overcome by the heat and having to walk! I actually walked about 15 minutes of the return trip and finished 24 oz of water well before getting home. I even got a headache, a good sign of heat stress. That was a long 6.7 miles!

Wednesday was a run at work and we maintained a 9:15 pace for our 5 miles despite all of us feeling hot and worn out. It's been hot here lately and it hasn't even hit 90 yet! At least the race tomorrow is at 0800 so it should be plenty cool for me and the pups.

Saturday I went for an easy-paced long run for which I had zero plans except to bring the camera and stay out for 1.5 hours or so. The entire time I was never more than 2 miles from home, but I wound up covering 8.5 miles during the run and I snapped several photos along the way.



The morning air was cool and the river was somewhat warm, causing some beautiful steam fog on the surface. One spectacular effect of this was that the gentle morning breeze coupled with the rising warm vapor off the river created some mini tornadoes! This was the second time I've ever seen them; the first time was last summer during a kayak outing on Lake Malone in Kentucky.



Part of my run took me through the fairgrounds, where I got some photos of the horse arena and the dirt track where Amanda and I do our speedwork. In the background of the wide-angle photo you can see the grain silos of King Milling, among which I ran after going through the fairgrounds.



My little expedition also ran past my old elementary school and playground!

Our dogs are now 4 years old! In dog years they're catching up to Amanda and I. :)

Haven's birthday is June 8 and Beacon's is June 9. They're from the same litter, so how are they born a day apart? Their mother, Sheree (owned by friends of ours), gave birth to the litter late evening June 8th, sometime around 9-11pm that night. After our friends waited a few hours to make sure all seven puppies had arrived, they went to bed around 1am. When they woke up and checked on Sheree at 8am, there was an eighth puppy! It was Beacon, the runt of the litter.

Since Amanda has posted the birthday photos, I'll leave you with some of Haven's and Beacon's puppy pics...



Beacon is on the far left with his head down, pointing to the top of the frame; Haven is bottom center, her head straining to face the camera.



Beacon is on the left, Haven is on the right; they're almost four weeks old.

Today was definitely a Fox Mulder day...

Adopt Her Already!
First the not-so-bad. Our foster dog Reese has been wanted by a couple for over a week now but they keep dragging their feet. We met them with Reese at a pet store last week and they liked her, but then wanted to see her interact with their current dog. Makes sense, but couldn't we have done that for the first meeting if that was an issue? So we take Reese to their house, she and their dog get along great, but one of the adopters is out of town and they want to discuss to make sure. OK... Finally they decide to adopt her and we arrange to meet at my office Thursday to sign the papers but she never shows up. Today we're supposed to meet, but she calls to say she's running late and won't be free until after I leave work. Now Amanda has to coordinate meeting her while I go for my run. To top it off they can't pick Reese up until Monday since one of couple is still on travel. If they'd been just a wee bit more proactive early on, Reese could've gone home with them over a week ago! Oh well. The good thing is that Reese is adopted, and we actually really like this couple. They're nice, patient with dogs, Reese and their dog get along great, they have a big fenced-in backyard, and they go camping a lot. Reese will be happy with them so this craziness is worth it.

Bad Business
Today at home Amanda gets a call from Fidelity where the guy says he has to talk to me about my retirement account due to the takeover. (Background: my company used Fidelity for their 401K but we've since been bought by another company that uses a different financial service.) This guy leaves his name and a direct line phone number. So I call him back from work and get a generic voicemail box saying "an appropriate associate will return your call"... I get suspicious and contact HR at work, who contacted Fidelity and was able to confirm that Fidelity's sales group was using a register of names acquired during the takeover to cold-call people at my company to pitch personal retirement accounts. How incredibly unethical! On top of that, it would seem to me to be bad business. Here's a prime example: I had been planning to leave the amount accrued from my former company in Fidelity's 401K rather than rolling it over, but now they have just cost themselves my account. Prepare to roll it over, Fidelity!

Play Ball! Not.
Thursday night was my softball team's fourth game of the season, except that it never happened. We all showed up, the other team showed up, the umpires showed up... and so did a little league team that claimed to have the field during our game time! I called GRAASA, our softball league, but the number was disconnected! The little league got the city parks and recreation director on the phone, who confirmed that the little league gets the field. Our game got canceled. What the heck? It turns out that GRAASA had reserved the field and the little league was supposed to play on Saturday; however, the little league umpires had a conflict that day so at the last minute the city gave them our field but never told GRAASA. What annoys me is that this same thing happened to another GRAASA game last week but GRAASA never did anything to prevent it from happening again. Isn't once enough to learn a lesson? Maybe not for these folks, as they have yet to demonstrate any thoroughness in their operation of the league. Our schedule was postponed by a week to start the season because they couldn't find enough fields. Then the first field was played on was a kids' field with un-attached bases and a storm drain in centerfield - dangerous! Turns out GRAASA never even looked at the field before reserving it. We're currently operating under league schedule revision 5 or 6 (I've lost count) because they don't proofread their schedules before sending them out. They didn't even proofread their rulebook, which explains the disconnected phone number - their phone works, but they wrote the wrong number in the rulebook! If that all wasn't enough, some of their umpires were unaware of some non-standard GRAASA-specific rules. To their credit they are 100% volunteer, but that's no excuse for not being thorough and complete. Today at work I had to write them a "nice" letter to explain my teams' lack of satisfaction.

So yeah, today was a tough day of dealing with people that can't be counted on.

Happily we still had two good reasons to celebrate the day - Haven and Beacon's birthday!

Since my 35-mile bike ride I've gone running every day! Monday was an easy recovery run with the guys at work. My quads were a bit sore at the end of that run so Tuesday I was planning to take a day off; however, by the time I got home from work I was feeling pretty good so I talked Amanda into running at the dirt track at the fairgrounds. She ran 3 miles! I forget the exact time but she maintained a 14-ish minute pace by running a no-walking 12-minute first mile, then walking four of the final eight laps while maintaining a 12-minute pace on the running laps.

Today I went for a solo run at work during lunch - I couldn't join the regulars due to a schedule conflict. It was a great run, covering six miles instead of the usual five and giving me plenty of time to ponder and draft my latest Why Run? article about running's role in dealing with tragedy. Going the extra mile (literally!) turned out to be quite significant - my yearly total is now 600.8 miles.

I swear my life has a soundtrack... there's always a song in my head for everything I do. In fact, every morning I wake up with a seemingly random song broadcasting on my brainwaves! Early on in today's bike ride I thought to myself "How nice that there's no traffic on these country roads" and in an instant John Denver's song was playing in my head the rest of the way.

This is why I never feel compelled to iPod-ize my workouts - don't get me wrong, I love jamming to tunes on the run once in a while - but even without an iPod there's usually a song in my head anyway. It reminds me of Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption when he tells Red about enduring solitary by remembering the music he had played over the loudspeakers to get him thrown in there: "That's the beauty of music. They can't take that away from you."

After a speed workout on Friday and a moderate 6-miler on Saturday, I was going to take it easy today with a 1-2 hour bike ride. As part of enforcing my plan I pressurized my tires to just 60 psi instead of the usual 75 psi I use for flying along pavement - that way if I tried to go fast, I'd get frustrated by the mushy tires sapping energy. I also brought the camera along to remind me to stop and shoot the roses.



Or lambs, as it turned out! I was cruising along one of those melodious country roads when I spotted these woolen kids grazing. The wet brakes on my bike squealed to a halt and every single lamb pricked its ears in my direction - how cute! Unfortunately by the time I got my camera out of its double-ziploc bag waterproofing they'd all resumed breakfast, but it was still a cool scene.

Finally I stopped to check the time and to my surprise 1.5 hours had gone by! I was feeling so good that it seemed like I'd been on the road for just half an hour. I had told Amanda that I'd be gone 1-2 hours and now I'm looking at 3 hours if I turned around right then. I called her up and we made some plans - I would continue on for a 3-hour-ish ride into town and she'd come pick me up and we'd go out to lunch.

Back on my bike, five minutes later Amanda calls me back. "Aren't you getting rained on?" Sorry honey, it's just cloudy. Turns out she was in Meijer and the metal roof was echoing a downpour throughout the store. Well guess what? Two minutes after hanging up, the sky opened up and I got soaked. Amanda cursed me! ;)



My only directional plan had been to ride south for a while, then return home. With no pre-defined ending point now, I simply wandered south and west for a while until I realized that I had no clue where I was! To make matters worse, there were signs of alien activity... Crop circles! Actually it looks like the work of a willy willy spawned by yesterday's violent storm front that downed several tree limbs. See the cloud bank at the top of that photo? A minute after snapping the shot I got rained on again, just as I got the camera back into its protective baggie.



Now I had to find my way to town so whenever I hit an intersection I rode either north or west, depending on how ridable the road looked. I hopped onto a nice westbound road but a mile later it turned south with no intersections for a few more miles. Ack! Finally I got on a westerly course and found myself staring at quite a hill. Luckily it wasn't too bad at my slow pace; in fact, this was typical of about a dozen large hills that I climbed - and descended - during the ride. According to MapMyRide my route involved almost 2000 feet of climbing - not bad for Michigan!

Going down those hills was fun and fast, but the raindrops really sting at high speed! Yeah, those raindrops - the last hour of my ride was in a steady rain. I was completely soaked, but it was 67 degrees and I felt great - perfect riding conditions if you ask me! I finally came to a road name that I recognized and called Amanda to look up my location on Google Maps. She told me that it was six miles to a familiar intersection, and from there I was "really close" to the airport. She emphasized that it wasn't far at all, so I figured I'd meet her at the airport viewing area and assumed it was 8-9 miles away.

10 miles later I was wondering what the heck Amanda had told me! Turns out that Amanda had thought I was at the familiar intersection, which was six miles from the airport. So instead of 8-9 miles I actually needed 12 miles to reach the rendezvous point. Less than a mile from the finish the road was blocked by geese! Two families with adolescent goslings (about half the size of their parents; the fuzz was shedding from their necks) were thinking about making a crossing. They ran back to the shoulder as I used the oncoming lane to get around them. I slowed down to watch them when suddenly one of the parents hissed loudly and started running at me! I accelerated and got outta there! :)

At long last I met up with Amanda and changed into some dry clothes before getting refueled at Pizza Hut. My planned 1-2 hour ride became a 3-hour affair (including phone call and photo stops) where I covered 35 miles! All told I averaged about 13 mph if I subtract out the stopping. Surprisingly I still feel great! Apparently last week's 50-miler with my dad has recalibrated my cycling endurance. Nevertheless, I'll go easy on my legs when I run tomorrow.

The song "The Heat is On" comes to mind with the hot, muggy weather we've been having. As I got ready for my speed workout today I watched cumulus clouds building strength due to rising columns of hot afternoon air. My run was not going to be easy or pleasant! I leashed up Haven and jogged a warm-up mile to the track at the local fairgrounds where we met Amanda. At the track Haven was set free and promptly sprinted 100 meters at Olympic speed in pursuit of a squirrel! Silly girl.

I was hoping to run six 1/4 mile laps but only turned in four due to the heat and some lingering soreness from last night's softball game. (I was involved with a couple diving plays in the outfield - caught one; the other glanced off my glove - that resulted in "grass burn" on my left calf and right knee.) I paced Amanda for her first 100m sprint then continued around the track for my first lap, a surprisingly comfortable 92 seconds. Then I ran my hardest for the second lap and clocked 69 seconds! Woo hoo, my first 1/4 mile under 70 seconds since high school. Boy was I hurtin' after that one.

Another medium paced lap at 98 seconds, then my last one I managed to run in 77 seconds. Amanda and Haven were just as hot and tired as me by this point so we went home. I ran with Haven through downtown and we stopped at the riverwalk to watch some ducklings that Amanda photographed. Finally we made it home, where Haven and I headed to the basement to recover in the cool subterranean air.