GeoTagged, [N31.79827, E106.39071]
One of the Bataan Death March Survivors, Oscar L. Leonard, is waiting for the same plane that we are. He was gracious enough to sign my certificate!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Very Cool Update
GeoTagged, [N31.79827, E106.39071]
One of the Bataan Death March Survivors, Oscar L. Leonard, is waiting for the same plane that we are. He was gracious enough to sign my certificate!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
We're done!!!
GeoTagged, [N32.37721, E106.49729]
Everyone made it! Unofficial time was 9:42. At the finish, Jeff's pack weighed in at 47lbs, while Rich's, Brian's and my own all weighed in at 45lbs. We walked over the finish in style, four abreast.
We are tired, dirty, and in pain but we're all extremely proud of ourselves.
Mile 21
GeoTagged, [N32.43191, E106.47034]
Just got treated at a med station for a nasty blister. They did a great job, fast and efficient. We're moving again, and feeling good and strong.
A little more than eight
GeoTagged, [N32.44240, E106.46947]
Signal has been touch and go so updates may be a bit sporadic. We're doing well. Bri got a hotspot so we all took the oppurtunity to change socks. Left ankle is hurting a bit, but it'll be fine.
At the Staging Area
GeoTagged, [N32.37708, E106.49718]
Old Glory is always awe inspiring. It's just after 6am, and we're at the staging area waiting for the opening ceremony.
The Big Day
There are very few days in ones life during which you can say "This is one of the hardest things I've ever done."
Today is one of those days.
Today is one of those days.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Pack weigh in
GeoTagged, [N32.79410, E106.23945]
At the community center on Saturday morning. Lots of people showed up last night...my pack weighs in at 37 lbs., without water, food, or clothing that will surely migrate to it during the day tomorrow. So, I'm good, let's do this thing.
Fat Guys Next to Fat Man
GeoTagged, [N32.38547, E106.47812]
This is the crew, next to the prototype of the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki Japan on August 9th, 1945. The original nuclear test explosion, Trinity, was conducted here on White Sands Missile Range.
US Missile Museum
GeoTagged, [N32.38618, E106.47838]
This is an Honest John short range unguided artillery rocket, which could be armed with a nuclear warhead. My Dad commanded a unit of these in Germany a couple thousand years ago.
Saturday Rise and Shine
GeoTagged, [N32.37676, E106.49101]
Whelp, the weather continues to conspire against us...it's an absolutely gorgeous morning as you can see from the pic, but it's about 25 degrees here in the desert, and the sleeping bag I brought is rated for 30! So yeah, a little cold =). We're off in search of some hot showers.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Arrival
GeoTagged, [N32.37692, E106.49241]
We're here! Initial observation...I really really hope the winds on Sunday are nothing like this...they're gusting at about 40 or 45 mph.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Geo-Locational tags, and "Off we go!"
Whelp, this is it...Jeff and I are driving down to Baltimore to meet the rest of the guys and hang out for the evening, then we're on a flight to El Paso tomorrow morning.
I'll likely be spamming the blog here with random Geo-loc tagged pictures over the next couple of days, assuming that I've got enough signal in NM to support that. I do still plan to also post pictures with Geo-loc tags from the hike itself, mostly so my home based fan club can follow along on the fun. The iPhone is all set up, and I just tested functionality again...it works, at least from my library =)
I figured I'd take a minute or two to explain how the Geo-loc thing works and how you can use it if you're interested. When a post is made with a Geo-loc picture embedded, you'll see a link down at the bottom of the picture that shows the coordinates. Click on that link, and it launches Googlemaps with a pin dropped on the location. That's it, simple as that.
On Sunday during the March, you can compare that Googlemap with the course map of the hike to see where I'm at. That course map can be found here:
http://www.bataanmarch.com/r09/racemap.htm
From the racemap web page, you can download a copy in .pdf format, which is a bit easier to manipulate (zoom in and whatnot).
We'll be out there all day Sunday, so check in occasionally to see how it's going!
I'll likely be spamming the blog here with random Geo-loc tagged pictures over the next couple of days, assuming that I've got enough signal in NM to support that. I do still plan to also post pictures with Geo-loc tags from the hike itself, mostly so my home based fan club can follow along on the fun. The iPhone is all set up, and I just tested functionality again...it works, at least from my library =)
I figured I'd take a minute or two to explain how the Geo-loc thing works and how you can use it if you're interested. When a post is made with a Geo-loc picture embedded, you'll see a link down at the bottom of the picture that shows the coordinates. Click on that link, and it launches Googlemaps with a pin dropped on the location. That's it, simple as that.
On Sunday during the March, you can compare that Googlemap with the course map of the hike to see where I'm at. That course map can be found here:
http://www.bataanmarch.com/r09/racemap.htm
From the racemap web page, you can download a copy in .pdf format, which is a bit easier to manipulate (zoom in and whatnot).
We'll be out there all day Sunday, so check in occasionally to see how it's going!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counter-clockwise
Just sneaking in a quick update here. There’s lots to tell but there hasn’t been time enough to tell it. Work has been insane these past six weeks, including a trip to Dublin and lots of after-hours work…so there just hasn’t been much time to post.
I ended up doing two hikes indoors at the Y, per my last post. The first one was somewhere around 20 miles, but I’m not sure because there was absolutely no way that I was going to count laps for 8 hours. Especially when it takes 13 of those laps to equal one mile. The only real downside was that walking in circles for 8 hours tends to be a bit tough (for me) on the outside of whichever foot is on the “inside” of the track. I ended up with blisters from the heel til about halfway up my right foot. Deep ones, too. Two days later I did it again, but only managed about 6 and a half hours because I started getting blisters on my blisters, as the travel direction around the track was the same direction that I had done two days before. I could have planned that a little better had I paid attention to the signs clearly posted: “Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counterclockwise”. Done with that, I was very happy that I went through the effort because we’d just not gotten enough mileage in to be comfortable with the looming deadline.
This past Sunday, Jeff and I struck out on the trail for an all day “how much can we hurt ourselves” session. We did 24 miles in around 9 hours, which told us much about what’s to come. First and most importantly, if we can do 24 miles without the morale benefits and the logistical support of a big event, then we can do 26 miles with it all other things being equal. Granted, all other things won’t be equal, but we’ll just let that one go for now.
We also learned that we’re going to be a bit slower than we’d been thinking we’d be. In our minds, it was easy to think that if we average three miles an hour for 20 miles, then we’d also average three miles an hour for 26. Oh, how untrue that is for our current conditioning. It took us a full hour to get from mile 22 to the finish at 24. Somewhere in the low 20s, things just got extremely painful. Breaks got a bit longer, which was good and bad because the longer they are, the stiffer the muscles get…and once they’re stiff it compromises your stride pretty significantly. On the other hand, at that point our feet were in significant pain and we felt that we just really needed to give them a break. It was one of those catch-22 situations.
Finishing the 24 miler felt very good. It was both an accomplishment and a concern settler. We now know that we’re ready for this thing.
Over the next two weeks, I plan to do nothing but pool work, with about 4 or 5 one hour sessions planned just doing laps. The idea is to keep myself lose and the muscles working without any risk of injury.
I ended up doing two hikes indoors at the Y, per my last post. The first one was somewhere around 20 miles, but I’m not sure because there was absolutely no way that I was going to count laps for 8 hours. Especially when it takes 13 of those laps to equal one mile. The only real downside was that walking in circles for 8 hours tends to be a bit tough (for me) on the outside of whichever foot is on the “inside” of the track. I ended up with blisters from the heel til about halfway up my right foot. Deep ones, too. Two days later I did it again, but only managed about 6 and a half hours because I started getting blisters on my blisters, as the travel direction around the track was the same direction that I had done two days before. I could have planned that a little better had I paid attention to the signs clearly posted: “Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun Clockwise, Tues-Thurs-Sat Counterclockwise”. Done with that, I was very happy that I went through the effort because we’d just not gotten enough mileage in to be comfortable with the looming deadline.
This past Sunday, Jeff and I struck out on the trail for an all day “how much can we hurt ourselves” session. We did 24 miles in around 9 hours, which told us much about what’s to come. First and most importantly, if we can do 24 miles without the morale benefits and the logistical support of a big event, then we can do 26 miles with it all other things being equal. Granted, all other things won’t be equal, but we’ll just let that one go for now.
We also learned that we’re going to be a bit slower than we’d been thinking we’d be. In our minds, it was easy to think that if we average three miles an hour for 20 miles, then we’d also average three miles an hour for 26. Oh, how untrue that is for our current conditioning. It took us a full hour to get from mile 22 to the finish at 24. Somewhere in the low 20s, things just got extremely painful. Breaks got a bit longer, which was good and bad because the longer they are, the stiffer the muscles get…and once they’re stiff it compromises your stride pretty significantly. On the other hand, at that point our feet were in significant pain and we felt that we just really needed to give them a break. It was one of those catch-22 situations.
Finishing the 24 miler felt very good. It was both an accomplishment and a concern settler. We now know that we’re ready for this thing.
Over the next two weeks, I plan to do nothing but pool work, with about 4 or 5 one hour sessions planned just doing laps. The idea is to keep myself lose and the muscles working without any risk of injury.
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