223 Miles to Little Rock

Camping, or more specifically backpacking is something that I've been doing since I was a kid. Early on it was just carrying my gear in a bag out behind a friends house. Now it's evolved into lots more gear and I'm not sleeping in the woods behind my friends house any more. Instead I'm traveling around to the various trails in the area.

Time constraints with work and two kids have really kept me from doing any long trips even though there are a couple of options in my area. To the south is the Lone Star Hiking Trail. The LST is a 129-mile National Recreation Trail that travels through the Sam Houston National Forrest. For the most part it's flat and sandy. or in other words not very exciting.

To the north is the Ouachita Trail which is Ranked third in the long trails for solitude according to this article on Backpacker magazines website.

So how long does a trail have to be to be considered a long trail? Well the Ouachita trail is 223 miles long and stretches from Talihina, OK to Little Rock, AR. Two things that differentiate this trail from the Lone Star trail are that it is not flat, and you will probably see a couple of rocks on the trail.

So which one do you think I'm going to pick to be my first foray into long distance backpacking. The harder of the two of course. Actually the opportunity just kind of fell into my lap. I was talking with my wife about taking a summer trip to see some family in Alabama. I mentioned going up ahead of her and the kids and spending four or five days on the Appalachian trail.

The thought of driving all the way to Alabama without another driver available didn't appeal to her so she suggested meeting me in Little Rock. I'm not sure where she got little Rock because we've never really discussed details about the Ouachita Trail which if you remember just happens to end in Little Rock. I'm not going to sweat the details though. At this point it was her idea and I'm going to run with it.

That's it for know. I've started thinking about the menu so I can start stockpiling food for 13 days on the trail. You'll find the menu as a work in progress in the links on the right. If you have any suggestions feel free to chime in.

In the meantime here's some video from my trip with my son at the end of 2008. We spent four days in the Ouachita trail area and really had lost of fun.

My thermometer has hovered right at 32 all day and just dropped to 31. It's been raining off and on all day, but I've been out in it. Getting food for people, offering a ride to one guy walking, and taking pictures.

The power flickered and went out for about an hour once, and when I was out running today a transformer blew just seconds after I went under it. Yes I ran today, it rained the whole time.

It had stopped raining for a couple of hours, I checked the radar and all seemed clear so I was going to run. Mostly just to say I did it, and so other people would see me out running. I suppose that your not supposed to go run in 32 degree rain might also be a little behind my motivation. I've been doing things that I'm not supposed to do for a long time though and it really is more fun than following the rules all the time.

When I was getting dressed I started out getting dressed for a cold dry run, but at the last minute put on my North Face rain jacket and Perl Izumi rain over-gloves. Wise decision. About 3 blocks from home it started raining. at about 1/4 mile from home it started pouring.

God was on to me being vain and was testing me. I kept running. As my legs got wet, then cold, then my feet got wet then cold it dawned on my that I wasn't doing this because I wanted people to see me. I did it because I wanted people to see someone, anyone out in this horrid weather. it didn't matter that it was me, as long as someone was out in it and having fun.

Just after this realization the rain slowed, but did not stop. My heart rate helped in warming me and ice started to form on my hood. What a great run.

On the road to running again
Chris Jennings/Herald Democrat

I did it. I finally ran more than a couple of blocks. I was feeling pretty good Wednesday afternoon and decided to try and run after work.

This time, I would hit the trail since the shock would be a little less than running on pavement. It must have worked. I got four miles in and felt pretty good doing it.

I even had Lance Armstrong come on over the ipod and tell me that I had run my fastest mile in this workout. I got the new Nike+ system for Christmas that keeps track of my run using the ipod and a small pod that goes in your shoe.

I had a feeling that I would be OK. I joined a gym a couple of weeks ago because I could not handle sitting around and not running.

I have been riding my bike more in the few weeks that I have not been able to run, but if I’m going to do even just the half-marathon in February I still need to be working out. The elliptical machine was my main objective in signing up. That way I could still get the basic run motion down but not have the huge impact on the knees.

So I would do the elliptical usually for a 20-30 minute warm-up and then the circuit on the nautilus machines and then on a whim I decided to try the treadmill.

The first day my knee bothered me a little so I stopped short and got back on the elliptical. The second time I tried it I had no pain in my knee.

I took this as a positive sign and ran a few more times using both the elliptical and the treadmill to lead up to Wednesday’s outdoor run. It felt great and If all goes well I’ll be running again this morning.

I also forgot how much I like working out in the gym. The last time I had a gym membership was when I was racing and did a fairly strenuous winter weight program.

I’m not doing anything like that now, but I still enjoy working out with the machines. Plus, when it’s really nasty outside, that gives me an easy out and I still get a workout in.

I’m sure there are more than a few of you who made resolutions to get in better shape this year. If you have not done it yet, get off the couch and step away from the remote. If you decide to use a gym, most of them can help you design a program that fits your needs.

Having a plan with small goals along the way is much better than going into any fitness plan blind. That’s just setting yourself up for failure.

Small goals, like losing five pounds or increasing weight lifted by 10 percent, can add up to the big ones you have planned. Plus if you’re focused on the mini-goals, before you know it the big goals just happen.

I’ve said this about running and I think it applies to this also. Having a friend to work out with can give you that little extra bit of motivation.

If you don’t have anyone, most of the classes offered will usually have the same people at the same times. This is a great way to make new friends that might share some similar goals.

I’m usually in the gym for at least an hour, sometimes an hour-and-a-half. You don’t need to spend that much time working out. If you’re new to this, just 30 minutes a day can help you get on your way to a better, fitter you.

Losing weight may seem like a dark art, but it is really pretty simple. All you have to do is burn more calories than you take in. That’s the hard part. I usually find that after a workout, I can be pretty hungry.

That’s normal. The hard part is eating things that are good or you.

Yogurt, bananas and protein shakes with different fruits mixed in go a long way towards curbing the appetite.

There are tons of information out there to help you get started. A quick Google search will give you thousands of results, some of them are even good. If you’re at a gym you can always ask for help behind the counter.

Running through the tough times
Chris Jennings/Herlad Democrat

I’ve come upon the toughest part of my training plan in the last week. To explain this to it’s fullest I need to go back to last year.

One sunny day after pulling out of the Herald Democrat parking lot on my motorcycle a series of events occurred that ended with my left knee breaking the tail light lens out of a car that had stopped in front of me.

I won’t go into details about the accident except to say it was my fault and I could have avoided it. I never went down, but I did have a good limp for a couple of months. I’m also just stubborn enough that I never went to the doctor.

After an 18 mile run two Saturdays ago my left knee has not been the same. I’m sure it has something to do with that mishap just over a year ago.

What’s been hard about this portion of my training plan is that I finally decided after taking a couple of days off for little injuries and suspected over training that I needed more substantial rest.

It’s been almost two weeks since my last run, and that is killing me. I have been riding my bike some. Actually I’ve ridden it about 40 miles this week which doubles my mileage from all of last year.

The bike does not bother the knee at all, and I even had the bright idea to try and run after a ride on Monday thinking that after I was warmed up it would be better. A few blocks into the run and I decided that wasn’t a good idea. That hurts because I really want to run.

Looking at my training plan I’ve just about come to terms that I will not be ready for a marathon by the end of February. So I have conceded to run the half marathon at cross timbers, I’m pretty sure that I can do that because I’ve already run 12 miles out there a couple of months ago.

The plan is to try and run about five miles on Saturday. That will give me almost two full weeks of rest.

After that I’ll scale down all of my running with a Marathon target date in April.
The Dallas marathon is the next closest marathon and that would give me nine months of training under my belt. Slowing down the mileage increases will hopefully keep me injury free.

Running through tough times
Chris Jennings/Herald Democrat

It’s been a tough couple of weeks. I haven’t fallen off the wagon yet, but been hanging on by a thread. This is about the time when it starts getting tough for a lot of people.

I’m a little over three months into my training, right at the half-way mark, and I felt good until a couple of weeks ago.

I wrote about my heart rate not going down, a sure sign of over training. I took a few days off in hopes that I could catch it soon and recover quickly.

On a Saturday run that was supposed to be 16 miles I got to mile 10 and developed a pain on the left side of my left knee. I made it a couple of more miles before I had to call it quits.

Taking a couple days off because of injury and over training just makes it easy to take one more day off, to cut a run short, or to say I’ll run tonight. You know you won’t but you say it anyway. You have to push through this period and make yourself go run in the mornings. That’s what I did today and my whole day has been better.

One of the things I’ll do is concede a mile or two at the start. I’ll say to myself that I’m only going to run five miles when I’m supposed to run seven. Every time I’ve done that by the time I get to mile five, I just keep going.

It’s kind of the same as saying your going to run at night when you know you won’t. It just makes you feel better at the time.

Getting through a slump is no easy business. There are a few things you can do to help get back on track.

Set new short term goals to get you out the door. In my case what I’m going to do is try and run a better 5K time. Something around 24 minutes would make me happy.

This will give me a reason to get out and do the speed work I need to do in my marathon training, but it focuses attention on a different goal that I will reach sooner.

Changing your routes up can bring a new element into your runs. If all you ever do is go around the park or you run the same streets all the time, boredom is sure to set in. I’m kind of stuck in that rut. I ran a new route Thursday and it’s now a favorite.

New shoes or running gear can help, but usually that’s just a temporary fix. A couple of runs with your new gear and you’ll be back in your slump.

Running with friends can help. If someone is waiting on you, your much more likely to get out the door.

A little cross training can help to. This time of year I think mountain bikes are the ticket. You’re in the woods and usually the trees block the wind so it’s not as cold.

That’s also a good reason to run on the trail. If your normally a road runner and you’re feeling a little burned out, hit some easy trails. The change of scenery is sure to do you good.

Another time that people have problems is when they finally reach a big goal. It helps to set goals for after your achievement.

They don’t have to be big goals, just something that will keep you going. These goals will keep you active and bridge the time between other big goals.

I’ve already started thinking about what to do after the marathon. There are a couple of other marathons I might run. I may switch focus to some other shorter runs and try to get faster.

I’ve also tossed around the idea of racing mountain bikes again and writing about that. The triathlon idea has popped into my head as well. What do you think? Send me an e-mail at photojojo@gmail.com and give me your ideas on what to do next.

One of the sites I frequent is www.snopes.com. With all the e-mails I get forwarded to me by well wishing family and friends I use Snopes to weed out the preposterous from the true.

Snopes listed some of their favorite Thanksgiving stories so I thought I would pass them along on this turkey day. Enjoy, and make sure to go outside and walk around the block, or chase the kids around to work off some of that good food today.

Turkey Mistake

Legend: Holiday turkey preparation provides set-up for humorous scenarios.

Origins: We mark the Thanksgiving Day holiday with a few simple legends of holiday meal turkey preparations gone awry.

First, a 1993 telling of an improbable legend that dates to at least 1880:

A woman who got it into her head that a fresh turkey produced a far superior meal to a frozen one made a trek out to a turkey farm to buy a live bird. But after returning home and looking square into the eyes of the living, breathing creature she'd just purchased, she just couldn't bring herself to kill it by wringing its neck or chopping off its head. Instead, she managed to put the turkey to sleep with chloroform and then began the process of dry-plucking it. Just as she finished removing the last of the feathers, however, the bird woke up.

The next-door neighbors responded to her shouts and arrived at her back door to find a woman being chased around her kitchen by an angry, naked turkey.

The next story, as told in 2006, deals with Christmas rather than Thanksgiving, but it's a turkey of a tale all the same:

Last year at Christmastime, my mom went to my sister's house for the traditional holiday feast. Knowing how gullible my sister is, my mom decided to play a trick. She told my sister that she needed something from the store and asked if my sister wouldn't mind going out to get it.

When my sister left the house, my mom took the turkey out of the oven, removed the stuffing, stuffed a Cornish hen, and inserted it into the turkey, then re-stuffed the turkey.

She then placed the bird(s) back into the oven.

When it was time for dinner, my sister pulled the turkey out of the oven and proceeded to remove the stuffing. When her serving spoon hit something, she reached in and pulled out the little bird.

With a look of total shock on her face, my mother exclaimed, 'Barbara, you've cooked a pregnant bird!'

At the reality of this horrifying news, my sister started to cry hysterically. It took the entire family almost two hours to convince her that turkeys lay eggs!

Yes, my sister is a BLONDE.

We've also found a Thanksgiving-specific version of one of our favorite legends:

A young woman is preparing her first thanksgiving dinner. As she gets everything ready for Thanksgiving day, she very sternly reminds herself to let the turkey finish thawing in the sink overnight. She puts it in and places the dishrack over the top of the bird. Her husband walks into the kitchen and sees this.

"Why are you doing that?" he asks.

"My mom always did that to help the turkey thaw," she told him.

The next day Mom calls to see how everything is going.

"Fine, Ma. I have everything ready to go in the oven. I even remembered to put the rack over the turkey last night."

This seemed to confuse her mother a bit. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, I remember you always put the dish rack over the turkey when it was thawing in the sink," she said.

There was a pause on the end of the line. "Yes, but honey, we had cats!"

Finally, a cute little anecdote from 1934 that deals not with the preparation of a turkey, but the aftermath of its consumption:

Word has reached us of a happening on Thanksgiving in East Orange. It has long been the custom on such occasions to have the wishbone pulled by the youngest and the oldest present. This year it was Grandma and Charles, who is going on eight. Charles won, and, with a far-away look in his eyes, fell into a period of silence. One of his aunts prodded him, and asked what he'd wished for. Others at the board pressed the question persistently, and perhaps unfairly. Charles brooded for a moment and then told them. "I wished," he said, "that I could see a nekkid woman."

40 days = five years of passion

Chris Jennings/Herald Democrat

An e-mail was forwarded to me the other day that moved me to the point that I want to share it. It started out simply as “Five years ago today, November 10th, 2001, I started running. No, that’s not true. I started ‘trying’ to run. Actually, I mostly walked.”

The e-mail originated from Sherman native Al Hamm. Who said that he promised himself that for 40 days he would put on his running shoes and go out the door. The only time in those 40 days he skipped a run was during a lightning storm.

Al’s inspiration for his new-found love was seeing a group of guys that were overweight and how uncomfortable they looked in their own skin. He thought that was how he was going to end up, so he decided to go on the offense and get active.

To date Al has run 43 races, including three marathons, six half marathons and a lot of 15K, 10K and 5K races. Last year he ran 1,418 miles in 253 days. That’s not much to some people but it’s a lot to others.

It’s hard to talk to Al about running and not see the joy and enthusiasm he has for the sport.
In his e-mail Al says the reason for sending it out is simple “I wanted to tell you that running makes me happy...running has brought me closer to God...and running has expanded my friendships...even with my two dog friends.”

I asked Al if he minded if I shared some of what he said in his e-mail. His reply was that if I thought we could maybe get more seniors active he would be honored. Al is 68 years old. Which means he started running at 63. He wants the message passed along that being active and getting fit has brought so much joy to his life that it is sure to help others, no matter their age.

Of course I do need to say that anyone who is thinking about taking up any time of exercise program needs to consult their doctor.

Not everybody will be able to take up a running program like Al did, but one thing you can do to give you incentive to get out is get a dog. I often run with my Lab, but she can be a bit of a handful at times even for me, so many seniors may want to choose to get a smaller breed dog.
Some of the dogs most common are pugs, schnauzers, Scottish terriers, shih tzus, Yorkshire terriers and cocker spaniels. All of these dogs are easier to handle than some of the bigger dogs.

The other benefit to having a dog is when they look at you, or go grab their leash to go outside, it’s pretty hard to say no. And just getting out and walking one mile with your pet can produce healthy benefits.

According to www.petplace.com, some of the differences in these dogs are as follows:
Pug. For such a small dog, there’s a lot of love stuffed into the pug’s body. A clown by nature, the pug demands attention and adoration, but returns both in greater measure. They love to play, but the pug also enjoys a good lap session as much as the next dog.

Schnauzer. The standard and miniature schnauzer are wonderful pets for seniors. Eager to please and to keep his family safe, this breed usually requires regular grooming and daily exercise. They thrive on human companionship.

Scottish terrier. This working dog from the Scottish Highlands weighs around 15 to 20 pounds. Most often black, the Scottie is highly intelligent and needs daily exercise. Tough and compact, the Scottie is a loyal and protective family member.

Shih tzu. Proud and intelligent, the shih tzu is from Tibet and China, where the name means “lion dog” because of the breed’s appearance. The breed is alert, curious and gentle and thrives on human companionship.

Yorkshire terrier. The Yorkie is a tiny dog with lots of spunk. This breed is happy to spend his days lounging on the sofa, but this calm dog requires regular grooming.

Cocker spaniel. The popular cocker with his curly hair and sad eyes is a good choice for seniors. Needing basic exercise, the cocker usually spends his days lounging and waiting for his owner’s return.

Of course you can always find good dogs at your local animal shelter. You can look on-line at www.petfinder.com to search by zip code for animals available for adoption in your area.

Thanksgiving memories
By Chris Jennings/Herald Democrat

Thanksgiving memories are the kind of thing that can mold a person. Being around family that sometimes only sees each other during those couple of days a year can bring out the best in a person.

As I tried to come up with a couple of Thanksgiving memories one of the things that keeps popping into my head is that there are always people that are not family at our family gatherings. I never really thought that much about it until this assignment.

The fact that my family has always opened our doors to other people at a time that is traditionally spent with relatives has placed in me a willingness to let others in when some others might not.

There really aren’t any specific Thanksgivings that stand out, but I do have a few snap shots of some Thanksgivings over the years.

I’ll always remember doing Thanksgiving lunch at a Chinese food restaurant off Lemon Avenue in Dallas with my father for a few years. The strange part about that is that he was a professional chef at some big name restaurants during that time. I guess since he cooked day and night he didn’t want to do it on his day off.

During one of my first Thanksgivings with my wife’s family I remember bringing a pecan pie. I didn’t cook it, I just bought one somewhere and presented it. I might have claimed to have cooked it, and put it in the foil pan with a plastic lid. I’m sure they saw through that farce.
The point to this one is that from that time forward according to Heather’s grandmother, God rest her soul, pecan pie was my favorite and anytime I came over she always made one for me. I never could muster up the courage to tell her that I didn’t like Pecan pie all that much and that pumpkin was my favorite.

There was the ice storm Thanksgiving a few years ago that I’m sure many people remember here. It would not have been that big of a deal had we not been in Dallas. It took us five hours to get home.

I remember a couple of years ago when my daughter, who was five years old at the time, helping my mother cook the Thanksgiving meal.

What I can’t remember is a Thanksgiving that I wasn’t with friends and family, and that, I’m thankful for.