chasing chickens

Yesterday morning we vaccinated nearly 800 chickens.  And I learned something interesting:

No matter how athletic, agile, or elegant one may normally be, it is impossible to appear graceful while chasing a chicken. 

baylor’s sweet sixteen

In honor of Baylor’s appearance in the Sweet Sixteen today…

it's all SWEET

palming like a pro

the college football preview

James Hayes is a buddy of mine from college.  And he writes a college football blog.  It’s called Twelve Saturdays and a Bowl.  And it’s probably the best college football blog that exists on the internet webs.  And I don’t often throw around compliments like that — lightly or otherwise.  Especially not to guys who are anti-SEC and pro-Ohio State.  [Of course if I lived in Tennessee and had only Vanderbilt and UT (stalwarts of the SEC as they were) to choose from, I might be anti-SEC as well....]

things i’ve missed: humidity

It’s hot here in Tennessee.  Really hot.  Hotter than I remember it having been ever before.  

And I live in Africa… without air conditioning.

But it’s not so much the heat that I’ve realized this week I’ve missed all this time.  It’s the humidity.  

brett’s morning blend (27jul11)

Have you ever wondered why Usain Bolt can run so fast?  Have you ever wanted to take part in an African circumcision ceremony (if so, I’m wondering why)?  Have you ever suspected that farming is the worst mistake the human race has ever made?  Then grab a cup of coffee, my friend….  

my furlough race calendar

Living in Tanzania, I’ve really missed being able to run races and compete in triathlons.  So I’ve crammed as many races as I can into our furlough plans this year.  I’m not in just amazing shape, but I have been running and biking a little.  I think I ought to be able to set personal records in every race distance that I didn’t race before the age of 21.  [I was much faster back then -- possibly due to being 40-60 pounds lighter.]  And thanks to some really nice friends, I have a loaner bike to ride, and my registration costs are even being subsidized.

Here’s a list of the races I’m entering.  If you’re nearby and looking for some friendly competition, feel free to join me.  

transfiguration over nine

image courtesy of jeremy berg

I read this yesterday in an April 2007 issue of Reader’s Digest (yes, this is what missionaries read in their spare time):

Moses and Jesus are playing golf.  Moses selects a five iron and tees off.  His ball lands in the lake.

It’s Jesus’ turn.  ”Tiger Woods would use this,” he says, grabbing a five iron.

“But my shot ended up in the lake!” Moses protests.  ”You should use a four iron.”

“Nope.  Tiger would use a five.”

So Jesus swings hard — and hits the ball into the lake.  He’s walking on the water looking for it when a man approaches.

“Who does he think he is, Jesus Christ?” the man asks.

“No,” Moses explains.  ”He is Jesus.  He thinks he’s Tiger Woods.”

image courtesy of God Answers Prayers

---

Related posts:

• early retirement from a sport i never played

• God must love golf…

rave run: the mountains of geita, tanzania

A thriving metropolis, Geita, Tanzania is not.*  Though opportunities for running do abound.  We’ve got a single paved road and lots of dirt roads, bicycle paths, and goat trails.  They pass from town to country, over mountains and through forests.

One day a week I run the mountains behind our house.  And because of Janie’s incessant whining I thought it might be interesting to some of you, I’m posting photos from this morning’s run.

starting the journey up the mountain -- the road in front of our house

It takes five minutes or so of running to get to the trailhead.  So my “warmup” is past my neighbors’ houses and gardens, waving hellos and shouting greetings to those I see.

mining for gravel and a city water reservoir

Any run in Geita is going to teach you at least a little about the culture and lives of many Tanzanians.  Above is a photo of a family mining for gravel.  It sells for $35-40 per small dump truck load… if you’ve got your own dump truck.  Also in the photo is a large water reservoir which is meant to supply a third of Geita with its water.  [Did I tell you guys we haven't received city water since July of last year?]

the beginning of the trail up the mountain

It takes me 15-17 minutes to climb the roughly 1000 feet from my house to the top of the mountain.

loose rocks make for slow going during much of the climb

My GPS watch measures the distance to be almost exactly a mile from my house to the top of the mountain.  And the peak — more like a ridge — sits at nearly 5300 feet above sea level (just about a mile).

on top of the mountain

These mountains are technically part of a Tanzanian national forest.  For that reason, there are some wild animals around.  On this particular run I saw two olive baboons and a vervet monkey.  I wasn’t fast enough, though, to get photos of any of them.  Sorry, guys.  I let you down.

the mountain opposite ours -- damage from deforestation, mining, and the accompanying erosion

Although the area is a national forest, it isn’t exactly treated as such.  Trees are being cut down for firewood and charcoal.  Gravel is being mined.  Pits are being dug in order to harvest mud for brick-making (and that too requires firewood).  All of these activities are illegal inside the national forest, but a few small bribes in the right pockets go a long way in turning the heads of those with power.

the view from the top -- geita's "lake"

the other view from the top -- geita town proper (you can see our huge catholic cathedral off in the distance)

There’s not a whole lot to the town of Geita.  We’re told we have a population of anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000.  It’s hard to tell which is the more accurate number; neither figure seems correct when looking at the town’s infrastructure.

cattle cooling off in the near-permanent mudhole on top of the mountain

The Sukuma people are famous for their cows.  And the above cows are some of the finest in Geita.  Not many farmers take their cattle to the mountaintop — I can imagine it’s tough to get them up there — so the grazing seems to be particularly good.  There’s also plenty of water for them to drink except during the driest of seasons.

residue of the booming (and illegal) charcoal industry

There are a lot of trails up and down the mountain, and nearly just as many on top.  I get lost during about half my runs.  But remembering which side of the mountain I’m supposed to go down is all that’s really important.  Down is always down — one side goes home, and the other not so much.

the terrain changes constantly throughout my runs — from smooth dirt trails…

...to gravel and rocks...

...to high grass, thick brush, and snakes?

Admittedly, this last photo wasn’t taken on a well-traveled trail.  But it is how I get to a particular rock I like to climb above the main spring on this side of the mountain.

the view coming down

The views are pretty spectacular considering that during this run I was never more than about 2 miles from our house.

from the thick canopy of trees nearest the main spring in the mountain

It’s also nice that there still remains a few areas with large trees and a canopy providing good shade.  This is also where the vervet monkeys hang out.

illegal brick-making: this is where they dig, form, bake, and sell -- the entire process

The photo above was taken on future Neema House property.  For those of you who don’t know, Neema House is our team’s planned care center for orphaned children and broken families.  The property sits about a mile up the hill from our house, just before the mountain turns steep.

looking back on the mountain -- the spring is in that darkest green section

If any of you are ever in the neighborhood, and want to go for a run… let me know.  You’re more than welcome.  Really.  And I’ll make you some great coffee and better-than-average pancakes.

 

* Although technically Geita is a metropolis: the capital or chief city of a country or region.

brett’s morning blend (23mar11)

Explore Your Morality

I’m in the middle of a little series on morality and ethics (inspired by the story of Rahab), and a helpful reader provided me with this very interesting link.  A group of psychology professors and graduate students from three universities have created a site on which you can explore your own morality by taking several simple tests.  There are dozens of these tests available, and you’re provided with your own personalized results in graph form (comparing your views to those of the average liberal and conservative).  You have to register, but it’s free and your information remains private (while used in research and studies).

The Humble Origins of 11 Restaurants

My hometown of Dothan, Alabama, was the first city in the world to have a Cracker Barrel NOT on an interstate.  [We're also the "Peanut Capital of the World."]  While Dothan’s not anywhere in this article, the story of the beginning of Cracker Barrel is.  As are the origins of Waffle House and nine other popular eateries.

17 Images to Ruin Your Childhood

From Star Wars to Bugs Bunny, the entertainment world wasn’t quite as impressive as it looked when we were little.  [Or when I was little.  For all I know, some of you guys are really old....]

Globetrotter XL

I haven’t played a computer game in 10 years… until this one.  Christie and I were both addicted for a day or two.  It’s a simple idea:  You’re given a world map (no country names) and a location.  Your task is to click as close as possible to that location.  But once you advance far enough in the game, the country lines disappear.  I haven’t played in a while, but I’m pretty sure completing level 10 wins the game.

Why the SEC Dominates in Football

It’s a fact; don’t try to argue agin’ it.  But if you want to know why the best college football in the country is played in the southeast, this article contains some insights for you.  [In 13 years of the BCS, SEC schools have won the championship game 7 times -- and that includes an undefeated Auburn team not getting the chance to play for it in 2004.  Oh, and those 7 championships were won by 5 different schools.]

For Which Baseball Team Should I Cheer?

I don’t like baseball; I think it’s boring and slow.  But I did find this flowchart amusing.  Want to know which team you should cheer for?  Apparently, if you don’t care if your team wins or not and keep a skinny latte in your game day thermos, you should be a Seattle Mariners fan.  But if it’s gravy you’re sipping, you ought to be pulling for the Kansas City Royals.

The Bike Shelf

This is a pretty sweet bicycle storage system; I’d like to recreate it.  But I’m not gonna’ pay $300 for it… that’s for sure.

mailboxes and minutes

.         I left you guys hanging with only 2 of Janie’s 3 posts in a series on running.  [I've been away from my computer and all forms of internet now for about 4 weeks, and I'm just easing back into it.  I'll let you know what I've been up to in my next post.]

.        I won’t do much to introduce Jane Reneau again; I will however point you to her first two posts in the series — here and here.  And, since she’s writing today about getting started in running, I’ll let you in on this little secret…  Janie ran her first half-marathon at the age of 16.  She placed last.  Very last.

.        But she still won her age group.

 

**********

I started running somewhere around the age of 14.  My mom had been running for several years by that point and I wanted to give it a try myself.  The only way I knew to start was to simply start, to lace up my shoes, throw on my Umbros and a t-shirt, and run down the road.  I used mailboxes as my measurement of distance and each day I tried to go one mailbox further than I had the day before.  At the very least, I tried to reach the mailbox I’d run to the day before.  I did not think about pace or how quickly I should reach the next mailbox, I just ran.

Before long I had a mile and then two.  Before the time of GPS watches and Google pedometer, I used Mom’s routes which she measured in her car.  I started running 5ks and even the occasional 10k, reaching 10 miles by the age of 16.

Today, there are all sorts of plans and programs to help new or returning runners reach their running goals.  Programs such as “Couch to 5k” or “No Boundaries” take inactive and semi-active people and help them train to run a 5k.

My sister and I are approaching our fourth season as coaches for the No Boundaries program, and I really like the plan this program uses.  It is a walk/run approach where the runner begins to lengthen the minutes spent running and shorten the minutes spent walking until they are running an entire 3 miles.  This approach also allows runners to start where they are athletically.  We have some folks who are literally coming straight off the couch and their bodies are not used to any physical exertion whatsoever.  We also have those who are regular gym goers and they can usually run longer from the beginning.

For someone who is not very active, the training plan might look something like this:

Week 1
Walk 2 minutes, run 1 minute – repeat 5 times.  Do this 3 times a week.

Week 2
Walk 2 minutes, run 1.5 minutes – repeat 6 times.  Do this 3 times a week.

Week 3
Walk 2 minutes, run 2 minutes – repeat 7 times.  Do this 3 times a week.

Eventually, instead of repeating these sequences a certain amount of times, you would do them until you reached 1 mile, 1.5 miles, and then 2 miles. Also, the walking time would eventually move to 1 minute while the running minutes continued to increase. By the time the program reaches 2.5 miles, those with the goal to run the entire 5k are running most of the training runs.

Plans of this sort also exist for the 10k distance, half-marathons and marathons.  So once you get started, the sky is the limit and you can find all the help you need in your local running community, online, or you can always e-mail me and I will be glad to help in any way I can.  Or you can just use the mailbox method.  There is no magic formula – it is about finding a good starting point that is doable, yet challenging.

As far as what you need to get started, I am not a huge fan of all the things your local running store will try to convince you are necessary to run down the road.

A good pair of shoes?  Sure.  Try some on and run around the store.  Mine are usually a half size bigger than my non-running shoes.  For beginners, I’d stay away from extra inserts of any kind unless prescribed by a doctor – and even then my opinion is that any injuries or discomfort are probably caused more by incorrect running form instead of a bad pair of shoes.

Maybe some running attire that makes you feel strong and athletic?  Sure!  You want something that is comfortable, loose, and you want to feel like you look good in it.  Otherwise you won’t want to put it on and go workout.  It sounds so silly, but it is true.  How you feel about yourself affects how well you run and train.  Having the right apparel will also help you run in less than pleasant conditions such as extra humid days or really cold ones.

For informational and motivational articles and such, visit www.runnersworld.com or www.active.com.  Two books that I really enjoyed were “My Life on the Run” by Bart Yasso and “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.  This last book addresses the issues of shoes and running form as well.

There is so much more, but for now I think that covers the basics.  One last thing, however, is do not give up!  Not every day is going to be easy or feel great.  But there are days that will feel that way and both kinds will be totally worth it.  Consistency is the key to getting better and hopefully, to falling in love with the sport. I have and it has enriched my life immensely. I pray it does the same for you!