Season’s Greetings!

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

30 December 2011    Seasons Greetings

My family and friends and dogs and I are halfway through our holiday celebration and enjoying ourselves a great deal. My last post was about two weeks ago on Saturday, 17 December, Don’t Look Down.

Last Thursday, December 22, was the first full day of winter and the dogs and I got down to the river a little late. This pair was sunning themselves on a rock on the north bank, some distance from where we were standing. I wasn’t certain what they were so I sent a picture to my more knowledgeable friends (that includes most of my friends) for identification. My friend Kim wrote back “Cormorants! Fishermen extraordinaire.”

Cormorants - "fishermen extraordinaire"

Turner also posed very nicely that day so I grabbed this picture. Turner is hyperkinetic and rarely pauses long enough for a photograph. His face is so dark it would have been nice to have the sun on the other side but he still looks very handsome:

What a handsome boy!

On Christmas Eve, Evelyn and I drove down to the Eastern Shore again. Her friends Chris and Shannon welcomed is in their home once more. This time their son Heath and their daughter Sally were home. Evelyn’s been friends with them since they were kids so she was very happy to get together with them again. And Sally is home visiting – she lives in Istanbul! So she doesn’t get home very often. Some time when we travel down there I’ll have to take a few pictures – it’s a beautiful place. Much different from here on the mainland.

We celebrated Christmas there, including a huge and delicious dinner at Chris’s brother’s house, also on the Eastern Shore. I met a lot of people the first time I went down there (three weeks ago) and even more this time. I’m looking forward to our next trip. I’ve had my camera along both times but haven’t really felt comfortable enough to take any pictures. I’m very comfortable with the people – they are the very definition of gracious – but not so comfortable with the surroundings that I can take a picture I’ll enjoy. Soon, though.

We drove back Christmas day and that evening I took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. At one point I got a little tangled up and lost my balance and landed on my left shoulder. And broke my humerus near the top, that’s the large bone that goes from your elbow to your shoulder. The orthopedic surgeon says the only treatment is to immobilize it while it heals itself, so I’m wearing in a sling for a while. I go back in two weeks to get another x-ray and make sure it’s healing properly.

The day after Christmas we had our “McLaughlin family Christmas” at my brother Kevin’s house near the Ashland Berry Farm. Sheila and Greg unfortunately couldn’t make it down from Boston but we had a big crowd. Evelyn joined me, and Shane was from Blacksburg with his friend Kristin. Katie and Jim and Aileen and Cappy were there of course, plus Kevin and Jenny and their daughters plus our Mom and Dad. It was a ton of fun! And since I am currently unable to split firewood for kindling for my woodstove, Kevin generously sent us home with a large supply.

My neighbor Lee and his family have been a huge help. Lee went up to the  Westbury Pharmacy and got a sling for me. Then he made me a spare sling to use in the shower; he should patent it! His family all made beautiful get well cards:

My neighbors are talented and compassionate!

They’re compassionate and talented! And their talents aren’t limited to beautiful art – Lee’s daughter Hannah invited Evelyn and me to join them for a home cooked meal! Hannah fixed incredible macaroni and cheese and a beautiful and colorful and delicious and flavorful salad. I should have taken a picture of that!

After dinner the eight of us went to see the movie Tintin and had a great time. “The eight of us” includes Lee and Kara, their three kids, Kara’s mother, Evelyn and me. Great company!

When Lee hasn’t been making “shower slings” for me and having us over for dinner, he’s helped doing a lot of other things too. He took me downtown for my appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, a huge help. Plus – he’s been walking the dogs for me! I am very, very fortunate in the family and neighbor departments.

Not to mention in the friend department! Yesterday afternoon my friend Andrew called and invited Evelyn and me to join him and his family for dinner. I hadn’t seen Andrew in a very long time, and his kids in an even longer time. Plus his brother Peter and his wife and kid were there; it was a great opportunity to catch up. I hope to see all of them again soon.

I’m going out to enjoy the fresh air in a few minutes. I’ll sign off with a picture of me in my sling. Have a great day and I look forward to seeing you soon,

Jay

PS Happy New Year!

PPS I took this picture about two minutes before I put up this post:

Black goes with everything

Posted in Dogs, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 6 Comments

Don’t look down!

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

17 December, 2011        Don’t look down!

If you know me or anyone in my family you know what “don’t look down” means. Fortunately it applies to driving and not to hikes at the river. Earlier this week on a late hike I looked down a lot and pointed my camera down a lot and took a handful of interesting pictures.

In about our first minute on the trail a deer bolted away from the river’s edge and dashed across the trail and headed for more solitude. Including less dogs. The dogs were still very interested at the river’s edge even though the deer was gone so I started looking down to see what they were so interested in. Last week the river had a significant flood and crested at nearly sixteen feet. The morning we were at Pony Pasture it was around six feet. When the river’s gone down from a big flood like that it leaves a smooth surface on the mud and the animal tracks  stand out. Also we were late getting down there and it was sunny and beautiful and the tracks were easy to see.

This wasn’t from the deer we saw (I don’t think). It was much farther downstream. Nice looking print though:

Heading for higher ground

There are many deer tracks at Pony Pasture. But by far the most ubiquitous mammal at Pony Pasture is Canis familiaris:

I have tracks like this in my yard as well

Plenty of tracks from these slow moving primates:

These reportedly spend many of their daylight hours walking upright.

We also saw many of these tracks. Those of you who know, correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it’s a raccoon. It may also be a skunk or an opossum or a porcupine but I’m pretty certain it’s a raccoon. There were lots of them:

A raccoon, I am reasonably certain.

I was a little surprised not to see beaver tracks. Beavers (and probably muskrats) have been around; you can see where they’ve chewed down trees. Maybe the flood drove them out. I think the park would be happy about that. They were becoming a nuisance.

This being the riverbank, not all of the tracks were of course from mammals. I’m not sure what bird left these. There are a lot of seagulls now but I rarely see them on land. Could have been crows but not certain of that either. There are also tons of geese but when they leave prints you can see the webs in their feet. This bird was good sized:

A large bird. That's as much as I know.

Another bird was down there earlier too; this was larger than good sized. I think it could only have been a Great Blue Heron. Some Bald Eagles are larger, but Great Blue Herons are by far the largest bird we see down there on a regular basis:

They're called "Great" Blue Herons for a reason.

There were even invertebrates. This looks like a worm of some kind:

Worms keep a low profile

This picture was not even from this week; I took it a couple weeks ago. Mackey’s a little wet and a little muddy but this is a nice pose in nice light:

Looking like he crossed a river to get to a dog show

When I looked at the tracks I was happy to see the river even left one of its own. These are little wave marks from where the last waves lapped at the sand as the water receded:

The river leaves tracks of its own. That's just so cool.

I also left off an important picture from my last blog post. I wrote about my trip to Virginia’s Eastern Shore with Evelyn. While we traveled back down Rte. 13 we passed through Machipongo, VA. I like the different types of place names on the Eastern Shore. For every “Machipongo” there’s an “Exmore” just as for every “Parksley” there’s a “Nassawadox.” Native American to English and back, every few miles. Only in America would we name a peninsula that spans Delaware, Maryland and Virginia the “Delmarva” peninsula. Anyway, as we past through Machipongo Evelyn asked me to stop at The Great Machipongo Clam Shack, owned by friends of hers. She came out with this gift:

I also need to learn it.

Have a great day,

Jay

Posted in Dogs, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 5 Comments

Lots going on!

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

10 December, 2011    Lots going on!

As usual, I look at my blog and say my goodness, it’s been so long since my last entry. Stuff piles up. I have so much fun writing these entries I’d love to do it all the time. But they’d get thin and boring. To me, anyway.

The last entry was November 27, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I’ve been busy since then, mainly of course with trips to Pony Pasture with the dogs and a couple of times to the railroad tracks with Clark. But Evelyn and I also had a great trip to the Eastern Shore of Virginia last weekend. My first time there since I did a hundred mile bicycle ride called “Between the Waters” back in 2001.

Sometimes – normally – when I write a blog post I know where to begin. I have a subject I’m excited about and I begin writing and the post flows from there and it’s easy. A dog thing or a river thing or a train thing or work or racing or hiking or whatever. This post is an accumulation; most of my blog post titles are nondescript but “Lots going on!” is generic even by my standards.

The subject currently speaking to me most was my trip to Virginia’s Eastern Shore last weekend with Evelyn. Evelyn lived there for over ten years. We were graciously hosted by her friends Chris and Shannon at their lovely home in Onancock. They don’t live precisely in Onancock. They’re in the country a few miles outside. Their house backs up to the water. This is the view from their backyard:

Peaceful

These buffleheads were out there looking cheerful. I’ve seen buffleheads a time or two in sleet or cold rain and they frown a little but otherwise buffleheads appear cheerful:

I'm sure this isn't silly, but it looks silly to me

We drove out there and back across the Lucius J. Kellam Jr. Bridge – Tunnel, a.k.a. the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. 23 miles long, just amazing. Unfortunately we drove out in the dark and came home in the dark so I was unable to get any decent pictures. Next trip.

My inspiration for blog posts – when it doesn’t come from my friends – comes from pictures I take. I don’t feel able to take decent pictures unless I “know” a subject or feel comfortable there or have spent some time with it. I took my camera to the Shore with me, but I hardly took it out. I occasionally take pictures of subjects I am unfamiliar with but the pictures are invariably of poor quality. Maybe next time we go to the Shore I’ll take more pictures.

At one point we went to an old building (there were lots of old buildings) where there was a craft sale in one section and children of various ages practicing a performance of The Nutcracker in another. This sign caught my eye. It’s great they have a group called “Level 4 Party Kids.” I never learned what the Level 3 or Level 5 Party Kids needed. Silver slippers with blue straps or something. Or even cowboy boots or Teva’s with candy cane socks, how would I know? The possibilities are limitless. I just like the concept of “Level 4 Party Kids”:

There are varying levels of Party Kids

Another highlight of the trip was a visit to a friend of Evelyn’s at a place she was once employed. It’s called Turner Sculpture and it’s in Onley, VA, perhaps 45 miles north from the southern tip of the Eastern Shore. Evelyn spent some time visiting with Dr. Turner. I was able to look at the three books he’s written, and at a lot of his sculpture. Dr. Turner does a great deal of wildlife sculpture. One of his glamorous models was actually born there. Her name is Bobbi and she has matured into this timeless beauty, seen here investigating my shoe:

Bobbi. I have met engaging companion animals but she tops them all.

She first greeted Evelyn:

Bobbi as greeter. She could not possibly have been more welcoming.

Another highlight of our journey was visiting Evelyn’s friends Maria and John. Maria fixed us a fantastic meal and we looked at their lovely 38 foot sailboat the Charlotte E. Foster. Click here to watch a 3 minute video of her construction. She was built in 1975. This picture is from her facebook page:

Charlotte E. Foster

We listened to an old favorite Christmas song of mine on the way out there, Merry Christmas from the Family by Robert Earl Keene. Watch that video; it’s about inclusion.

A lot’s gone on since we returned, including a somewhat high flood on the river. Pat and I took a great 50 mile bike ride today. At around mile 27 we’d ridden down a long hill to cross a bridge over Owens Creek. As we came around the bend we could see water over the road for I guess 200 yards. Only the bridge rails were sticking out. Oh well. Back up the hill. Nice day for a ride, anyway.

Also, I’ve gone with my friend David to Starbucks a time or two, plus this week we went to the Y for the first time and made a trip to the Westbury Pharmacy. When we were at Starbucks Monday there was a Red-shouldered Hawk (thanks for the ID Kim!) in a tree across the street facing away from us:

Red-shouldered Hawk, from behind. Thanks for the ID Kim!

Have a great day,

Jay

Posted in Fun, People, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 6 Comments

Thankful and grateful

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

27 November, 2011    Thankful and grateful

Like a lot of us, I have a great deal to be thankful and grateful for at the outset of this holiday season. I have my health and I am employed. They’re the bedrock of gratefulness. My family is large and generally healthy. And I was able to see a lot of my family this weekend, and speak with the others, and eat and eat and eat. Then have dessert. Evelyn joined me and a large part of my family at my brother Kevin’s home in Ashland for his annual Thanksgiving celebration. And Pat and I had a great bike ride Saturday to burn off at least a few of the calories.

I haven’t posted for two weeks, so I’ve built up a lot of pictures. On the other hand, if really had a lot of great pictures, I would have posted earlier. But here are a few items. My last post was Sunday, 13 November, “My current version of “normal””.

When you get to the parking lot a Pony Pasture and go down to the river and look across and a tiny bit upstream, there’s a dam way over there. It’s called the Williams Island Dam and I took this grainy-ish picture of it on Friday, 18 November. This is zoomed in 140x so it won’t be nearly this obvious if you’re looking from Pony Pasture. But it’s over there. You can look on Google Maps at this image of Williams Island. Zoom in a little and you’ll see the dam on the lower right of the island.

Williams Island dam

Evelyn and the dogs and I made it down again on Sunday (20 November). Two beautiful pairs of mallards were entertaining themselves – and me. Perhaps they were stretching, or performing duck yoga, or maybe waiting for escargot to be served. I’ve since learned they eat mostly plants. But there are so many snails at the river, and these ducks looked so elegant and sophisticated and refined, I felt certain snails were on the menu:

Mallard aerobics? Yoga? Mallard models? Stretching? I just can't tell.

It’s water plants they eat, but they still could have had a salad of dandelion greens, even in late November. Nice to still see bright flowers while other colors fade. I think dandelions are the first plants to appear in the spring and the last to depart in the fall. I took this picture the same day:

Beautiful color for late November

Clark and I went train spotting on Wednesday (23 November) and were rewarded with the rare sight of a 6,250 hp locomotive, a GE AC6000CW. I regret to say I didn’t realize that’s what it was until I went home and googled the locomotive number. CSX only has a few; I won’t make that mistake again. Never is a long time, but it’s very possible that once these 6,000 HP locomotives are retired, there will never be a locomotive that powerful. 4,400 HP locomotives are enough for anything.

6,250 horsepower - what a monster.

Evelyn was kind enough to join the dogs and me for our very early (7:00 AM) Thursday river hike. It was Thanksgiving and the weather was stunning. She took this nice picture of the four of us:

Thanksgiving morning

We enjoyed an outstanding holiday weekend, including Thanksgiving dinner with my brother Kevin and his wife and daughters and his wife’s family plus my parents. Kevin and Jenny host a beautiful Thanksgiving meal every year. But after taking pictures with the dogs at the river that morning, I didn’t get the camera out for the rest of the day. Evelyn and I went back down to the river for another great hike this morning. I was surprised to see a non-blue (non-CSX) locomotive on the front of a train. It’s formerly Union Pacific, formerly Chicago and Northwestern, current paint job (the proper word for a locomotive’s paint job is “livery”) is CREX, or “Citicorp Railmark”. It’s a “Dash 8”:

CREX Dash 8

Sometimes big flocks of seagulls stop in at Pony Pasture. I am not good at telling one kind from another. There were hundreds. This is just a handful:

Seagulls - what can I say?

We also saw this sweet (sweet looking, anyway) little wren. I regret not getting a better photograph. I guess it’s a Carolina Wren, just because they seem most common in this area. If anyone knows different, please enlighten me:

Carolina wren

I hope you all have had a nice start to your holiday season. And I look forward to seeing everyone during the holidays! Enjoy this fine weather and have a great day,

Jay

Posted in Dogs, Endurance, Flowers, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 5 Comments

My current version of “normal”

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

13 November, 2011        My current version of “normal”

It’s mid-November and life is settling into the comforting routine of what I view as “normal.” Your results may vary. Whatever season I’m in is my favorite; it’s autumn. I love having fires in my woodstove. Anyone who has known me for even one winter knows how much I enjoy that. I haven’t gotten a decent picture of my woodstove at work this year but when I do I’ll put one up. It will make you warm just to see the picture. I still had a decent pile of wood left over from last year but my friend Tim brought me a few more loads to get me started for the season. Tim owns Drake’s Lawn Care Service (804.837.1555). Tim’s been bringing me gorgeous firewood for about six years now. He’s never done yard work for me but I’m positive he’s excellent at it. Because he’s been reliable and hard-working and reasonably priced with firewood for a long time I know he’s that way with lawn care as well. This is my current load of wood; it will keep my house warm for some time. This is maybe ⅓ or ½ left over from last year and the remainder is this year. Tim has cut (and split) every stick. The only thing I use that axe for – besides as a prop to give the impression I do actual work – is splitting kindling. If you’re curious, this pile is just over 1.5 cords:

They say it warms you twice. But Tim did all the hard work.

Tim is also a great hunter and an excellent fisherman and a superb conversationalist. And in April he’s going to be a father for the first time! The world is very fortunate that it will have another person with Tim’s intelligence, values and work ethic. The future’s going to be great.

A nice pile of firewood always helps me feel normal.

Tim brought our most recent load on Thursday; the dogs and I had been at the river that morning and it was foggy and beautiful:

It feels - and sounds - like you're the only person there. Possibly on earth. It's fantastic.

Mackey looks wonderful here:

Always ready for what's next. Notice he's looking upstream.

Perhaps he was looking at this goose. Mackey is, after all, a Flat-Coated Retriever. Always ready to retrieve:

Good weather for swimming. Flying, not so much.

Turner was stampeding around in the fog while Mackey and Roux stood sentinel. Turner was probably smiling and wagging his tail at the fog:

Things are clearer when they're together.

Another part of what’s “normal” for me is riding my bicycle for enjoyment rather than as part of a training plan. Saturday (yesterday) was my first time back on the bike since Beach2Battleship. I took this relaxing 30 mile spin; it was sublime:

I know it's repetitive. But it makes me really happy. It's nice to be really happy repetitively.

Dogs and the river are of course primary facets of my version of normal. We had the great good fortune of Evelyn joining us this fine morning. In addition, I got to pile a couple of dogs from another friend in the car today. Evelyn was brave to get in my old Forester (my “dog car”) this morning with this crew. I got them to pose the best I could but they were more ready to hike than they were to have their pictures taken. So was I, but I make blog entries and they don’t. That’s Lola’s rear end on the left, looking to the left. She’s brown. Her pal Luna is just in front of her; she’s black and white. They’re sweet girls, well-mannered and healthy and enthusiastic and tons of fun to hike with. Next is the majestic Roux, and behind her is Turner – I wish his face was in the picture but oh well. I have met cheerful dogs before but that dog absolutely never stops smiling. He sets the cheerfulness-bar very high. Last but definitely not least is of course Mackey. He’s looking at whatever Roux is looking at; I’m not certain what it was. Mackey is the most reliable dog in any crowd; he’s quiet and easygoing and it’s nice to have one really dependable dog in the mix. The other dogs like it too.

How could this not be fun?

Speaking of bike rides, earlier this week I registered for Beach2Battleship 2012; that will be my tenth attempt at that distance. I’m currently nine for nine and I hope to finish next year’s race also. The 2012 race will be held Saturday, 3 November, 2012. “Official” training for me will begin Saturday, August 4 of next year – 13 weeks before race day. It’s nice to have some time to rest! When I crossed the finish line for B2B2011, that was my last “run” until I begin training next August. I am just not a runner. I’ll swim sporadically all year, because I like to swim, and I’ll ride a lot because I love to ride. But it will all be fun swimming and fun biking, nothing serious.

And in future posts, I’ll elaborate on some people. People who are – like all of us – “unlike anyone else.” There’s a little watermark sort of thing in the upper right hand corner of this blog that says “Breathing, rivers, dogs, people unlike anyone else, endurance athletics. Not necessarily in that order.” I haven’t addressed the “people unlike anyone else” part very much. My family is beyond compare. My neighbors are the best anywhere. The people I work with are fascinating. They teach me new things every day. And the places I frequent – Pony Pasture, the Tuckahoe Y, Martin’s, Starbucks River Road, etc. – are just filled with amazing people. Employees and customers. They all teach me new things every day as well. I’ll have to think about how I’m going to go about this. My life is densely populated with incredible people and animals and experiences, each a fascinating story. I am so fortunate. I am never bored. Soon enough I will mention some of these characters. Meanwhile, have a great day and I look forward to seeing you soon,

Jay

Posted in Dogs, Endurance, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 8 Comments

The week after

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

7 November, 2011             The Week After

I had a great week following my race this year. The week after my race is always pleasant; I’ve spent the past three months fixated on my race goal and it becomes all-consuming. I heard an expression once that the race begins to “block out the sun” and that’s what it feels like. It’s wonderful to see the sun again. It feels like I have my life back.

I worked a regular day (for me) the day after I got home. Monday, 31 October was my first day back, Halloween, and it was great to see my friends again. And to not have my next training session in the back of my mind. I had spare time Tuesday and so did Alex so she and Roux and Mackey and Turner and I went to guess where. We were so happy to be back:

Happy to be home and happy to not be swimming, biking or running or THINKING about it!

The Fall colors are coming along:

Hues

The autumn light gives the water a different shimmer:

Isn't that astonishing? Doesn't it look like glass or jelly or a turtle or what do you think? Incredible.

Clark took me down to see trains on Wednesday. That’s the Belvidere St. bridge in the background:

Railroad bridge. Sort of.

It’s that time of year; I’ve had my wood stove burning for a while. Tim’s brought me three gorgeous loads of wood. This is the first load; I’m getting them all stacked up behind the garage and splitting up a big pile of kindling. There’s nothing like a wood fire:

This will be keeping me warm soon. My cats look at it and purr.

Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised but I am – this flower was among many blooming on a rhododendron of some sort in my backyard on Saturday. They’re as big as the palm of my hand. First week of November. Crazy:

A backyard bloom in November. Beautiful.

Do all these river pictures look the same? I guess depending on my mood or something, it looks different every time I’m there. It was all green and blue and gray a few months ago. Now on clear days it’s as blue as it’s ever been, plus there will always be green, and gray from the rocks, and now the fall colors are in. In a month or so they’ll all drop. There will be greens from the evergreens, and the river will reflect the sky’s blue on what Willie Nelson calls an “Uncloudy Day”. (Click that link for a delicious little treat). When it’s a cloudy day the river and the sky and the rocks will all be different shades of the same color. Or lack of color. And soon enough it will be white and icy down there, yay. It’s always the same river but it’s always different.

And I like trains and dogs, what can I say.

But here’s the picture I was thinking of just now:

Spectacular river

Have a great day; I may get another post up soon. Until then,

Jay

Posted in Dogs, Endurance, Flowers, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | Leave a comment

I had a GREAT time

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

2 November, 2011    I had a GREAT time

I got home to Richmond from the 2011 Beach2Battleship Iron Distance Triathlon (B2B) on Sunday afternoon a little before four. It was a perfect day for the ride home. And after spending nearly sixteen hours “racing” (I use that term very loosely) the day before, sitting in a car listening to music for four hours was precisely what I was in the mood for.

This was my fourth year doing B2B, held annually in Wilmington, NC. Wilmington is an exceedingly pleasant city and I enjoy my visit every year. The volunteers are excellent, the residents fantastic and the other athletes are wonderful. It’s beautiful every year. This was my third year having Mom and Dad come along down to visit; it’s great  having them there. This is amazing as well – Mom graduated from high school in Washington DC a long, long time ago. I’m 50 and I’m not even their oldest child, so do the math. Anyway, a friend of Mom’s from high school lives about a mile from the swim finish/bike start (a.k.a. “T1”) for this race. What are the odds? Mom’s friend’s name is Kay and she lives there with her husband. Kay fixed an absolutely superb dinner for the five of us Friday night and I was able to carb-load with abandon.

I got up at 4:00 Saturday morning to get ready. The swim start buses began heading for the beach at 5:30 AM and I had to be on one. Ironmans normally begin at 7:00 AM and end at midnight but sunrise in Wilmington on race day was at 7:28. And it was cloudy and gray and overcast and drizzly and the Coast Guard didn’t allow us to start until 7:25. It was fun standing out there on the beach in the dark in wetsuits chatting with other participants. People of similar intelligence and social skills, i.e. couldn’t find anything better to do on a Saturday morning in October than  swim in the freezing cold ocean in the dark.

This was the entrance to T1. Our bikes and bike gear were here. We got on buses and rode them 2.4 miles up the beach for the swim start.

T1, race day morning

From here there are no pictures for a long, long time, because Mom and Dad couldn’t find me until much – much – later. The swim was just incredibly fast. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that until I got out of the water and found I’d finished precisely one second faster than my all time best Ironman time. I did the 2.4 miles (3,800 meters) in 56:52. That amounts to 1:30/100 meters. By way of comparison, the fastest training swim I did all year was 2:10/100 meters. The current was amazing. My friend John, a lifelong swimmer and one of my early open-water mentors (I’m still wearing his old wetsuit) suggested the proper response to that swim is “what current?” The fastest swimmer of the day finished in an astounding 36:07. That breaks down to 57 seconds per 100 meters. Time yourself in your pool next time you swim. In a 25 meter pool like at my Y, that’s 14 seconds to get from one end to the other. For an Ironman swim, you have to do that 152 times. Unbelievable.

When I got out of the water I was somewhat cold, but not terribly. I have been much, much, much colder, as in one year ago at this race. Anyway, I get out of the water and I’m running across the dock and this person comes up and says “I’m a doctor, are you okay, you look a little blue.” I just smiled and said “no, I’m really happy!” and headed for my bike. Where I did in fact turn blue, but gradually thawed.

That bike ride was a grind. It was drizzling when I started out and didn’t stop for the first 20 or 30 miles. For the first half or ⅔ of the ride you’re going primarily north, and there was a cold front coming in. It was blowing the clouds and rain away, but it was blowing them hard and cold, right in our faces. According to my bike computer I did the first 56 miles at 13 mph and the second 56 at 16 mph. Including the last 2 or 3 miles when the wind was behind me and I was going downhill a little and going over 30 mph. Of the 8 ironman bikes I’d done before this, I’d never averaged under 16 mph. This year: 14.8. Oops. A spectator on the run course thought they were being cute and had a pre-printed sign that said “DON’T YOU WISH YOU HAD YOUR BIKE BACK NOW?” I guarantee you there was not one person in that entire race who wishes they had their bike back. It was a joy to finally be off it.

I’ve done plenty of windy bike rides. If it’s sunny and warm, everyone smiles and shrugs and complains in a good-natured fashion about wind. This was neither  sunny or warm. The best word I could think of was “grim” and there were no smiles or shrugs and the complaints were anything but good-natured. Athletes were very  happy to hand off their bikes at the bike to run transition (T2).

I thought I’d see Mom and/or Dad and/or one of their friends when I got into T2. But they were nowhere in sight. I’d stuck my phone in my bike bag before the race and didn’t want to leave it there while I was “running.” I thought I’d be able to hand it off to Mom or Dad but carried it with me instead. I’m relatively certain that carrying my phone with me wouldn’t make the difference between a first and a second place finish.

So I was overjoyed to take my helmet off and trade my bike shoes for running shoes and head out on the course. I’m guessing I took this picture as I crossed the first bridge on the first (13.1 mile) run loop. Judging by the time. It was pretty out:

I crossed that bridge when I came to it

The loop crosses a couple of bridges and goes along the waterfront then around Greenfield Lake. I took a couple of pictures on the first loop as the light was beginning to fade; here’s one:

Enchanting Greenfield Lake (watch out for alligators!)

There were a few signs spray-painted on the ground. Here’s one I’m particularly fond of; it doubles as a life lesson:

Stay on path

My friend Evelyn gave me great surprise gifts to open at various stages during my race weekend. I love m&m’s, and the first surprise I opened was at 7:00 Friday morning (they’re not just for breakfast anymore) with David before I left. I’ve been with David three mornings a week for around nine months and all he’s ever requested to drink was coffee, orange juice or water. The minute I pulled out the m&m’s he said “can I have a glass of milk?”

So anyway, I’ve done triathlons since 1987, I’ve done over 120 including sprints and olympics and half irons and ironmans. I’ve passed over a thousand aid stations where they hand out drinks and snacks and water and Advil and everything a hungry or tired or sore athlete could desire. And I have never seen an m&m. I stopped at an aid station on my second loop of the run and they had everything in the world you could want, including delicious trail mix, but of course no m&m’s. I said to one of the people working there “you guys really need to have m&m’s – everybody would eat them.” She said that would be fantastic, was in complete agreement. I jogged a few more miles, hit the turn around for the final loop of the run and stopped at the aid station just after the turn. 6.55 cold, dark, tired miles ahead of me. And they said “can we get you anything?” and I look on the table and there must have been a hundred packages of m&m’s. How does this even happen? It’s an endurance athletics miracle. People were taking pictures right there; I handed them my cell phone. I’m holding a pack of m&m’s in each hand. This is what a happy athlete looks like. Remember, when this picture was taken I’d been “racing” for probably fourteen hours:

134 miles behind me, 6.6 to go - refueled with m&m's!!!

I just cruised in from there. Mom and Dad were waiting for me in the cold at the finish after my 140.6 mile, fifteen and a half hour jaunt:

The best support crew EVER!!!

I want to write so much more. But I am pressed for time. I may elaborate later; the experience was so rich it’s difficult to get it all across in one blog post. This picture is the battleship itself, the finish line, the next day just before I left. It’s the USS North Carolina:

USS North Carolina

I want to write so much about the food, both before and during and after the event. I want to write about the music I listened to on the ride home. Another day. The day after the race, Mom and Dad and their friends and I had our traditional post-race brunch at the Boca Bay Restaurant. I ate everything in sight. But for some reason the lox they had there were absolutely out of this world. Everything else was delicious too but those lox were just indescribable. And when I got home Alex had made up a great card for me and gotten me two different kinds of dark chocolate I’d never had before! Including one with espresso in it, yay! And the music on the way home was astonishing. As I’m pulling out of the parking lot, the first song is Subterranean Homesick Blues by Bob Dylan.

“Look out kid
Don’t matter what you did
Walk on your tiptoes
Don’t try “No-Doz”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows”

What a way to begin that drive.

Maybe a little more later. Thanks to everyone for their support and good wishes and great food and all the great energy. I used it all up and then some! Have a great day,

Jay

PS I took this picture of myself when I got back to my hotel room after the race:

See you next year!

Check out this excellent finisher's medal!

 

Posted in Dogs, Endurance, Flowers, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 16 Comments

Counting down…

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

25 October, 2011        Counting Down

Some of you may have seen a blog post on August 1 titled “Have A Good Time!” Since then, except for the loss of my beloved Max, I have been mostly having a good time. On August 23 I had my fiftieth birthday – and my very own earthquake! Followed shortly by Hurricane Irene, then the adoption of our remarkable new friend Turner. He spent his first night here on August 29; except for being asleep, I don’t think his tail has stopped wagging since. His happiness knows no bounds. And he has no off switch.

But regarding “having a good time,” I’ve been training non-stop for Beach2Battleship 2011 since August 1 and the race begins Saturday morning at 7:00 in Wilmington, NC! I’ve put in a lot of meters in the pool, a lot of miles on the bike, a lot of miles running. We’ll see if my preparations pay off on Saturday. The name of the race organizer is Set Up Events and this year’s race will have “live results” for the first time. I.e. you can follow my progress online! This will be my ninth Iron Distance race (swim 2.4 miles, bike 112, run 26.2) but my first as a fifty year old. In a gesture as unexpected as it is thoughtful, Set Up has graciously honored me by choosing my birth year for my race number – I’m number 61!  If you’d care to follow my progress, click on the “Live Results” link and put in my race number. I think – I don’t know this for a fact – but I think it will give my swim time after I’m out of the water and cross the timing mat. Then I change clothes and get on my bike and it probably records my time again when I start out on my bike. After that nothing will happen for many hours – my best 112 mile bike time ever is over six hours. They might show the time at the half way mark or something – I don’t know how it will work. They’ll show it again when I get off the bike, again when I start the run, perhaps a time or two on the run, and at the finish. When I finish it will be quite late at night and you may have to see my time on Sunday morning. I know I kid around a lot, but that’s true – it will probably be around 10:00 Saturday night when I cross the finish line.

Anyway, I haven’t just been having a good time since August 1 – I’ve been having a great time. And I’m looking forward to race day. Here are a few pictures since my last post.

Evelyn and the dogs and I went to Pony Pasture two Sundays ago – on the 16th – when the river was still a little high. This lovely pair of mallards stopped on a rock for a few minutes to enjoy the sun. The female was a little bashful but the male looks very proud of her and of himself:

Observing the river

As training winds down I’m doing shorter rides. My bike has a few bugs on it (mostly mosquitoes and gnats) but it’s riding great. I took this picture while it was on top of my car after I rode last week. My bike is a “seven”. Ben and Andrew and Jesse at 3Sports built it for me a few years back and I adore it. All slow speeds on triathlons are entirely the fault of the rider; those guys build and maintain fantastic bicycles. A few shots of my bike:

seven

This is where it goes fastest

As the weeks roll on, sunrise gets later and later. We still get to the river at the same time Thursday mornings but now it’s really, really dark. We get there just before the sun clears the horizon. Look at the hues as the sky lights up:

The colors are astonishing

On Thursdays it’s just the dogs and me and we go very early. On Sundays we pick up Evelyn and go at a much more civilized hour. It’s much lighter!:

A rock in the riffles

We saw this heron Sunday as well:

A wise eye

The Beach2Battleship web site has gorgeous photography. The race starts on the “Beach” and finishes at the “Battleship” – the USS North Carolina. Look at this gorgeous image from the race web site:

USS North Carolina

Posted in Dogs, Endurance, Fun, Rivers | 15 Comments

First post for October

Posted on October 13, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

13 October, 2011

I thought long and hard before coming up with that catchy title for this post. Creative and original too. The last post I put up was two weeks ago. It’s been a fun couple of weeks but I haven’t sat down and written. I’ve taken a handful of fun pictures, or at least so I like to think. I’m also in the final few weeks of training for Beach2Battleship. The race is two weeks from Saturday. One more short swim and one more short run, then a very long ride Saturday and a very long run Sunday. Then I begin to taper, yay. For the uninitiated, the “taper” is a time many endurance athletes cherish. After months of heavy training, we now ease off for a couple of weeks while our bodies recover and (at least in theory) consolidate our training efforts in preparation for the big event. If you ever mention it to a long distance athlete, they often get a dreamy look and say “ahh… the taper.” It begins Sunday after my long run. “The taper” is perhaps second only to crossing the finish line on the list of enjoyable experiences for endurance athletes. Anyway, a few pictures from the past fourteen days or so:

My oldest niece’s birthday was on the 5th. She’s 23! Wow. I remember when she was born. Six months to the day after my accident. October 5, 1988. Happy Birthday Aileen!

The 5th was a Wednesday and Clark and I went to see trains. There was a beauty down there and it was a pretty day. As many pictures of trains as I take, you’d think I’d avoid an amateur mistake like cutting off the back corner like this. Oh well. If I was perfect, as Nathaniel Hawthorne said in The Birthmark, the angels would come and take me away. I think I’ve used that quote before. But I’m fond of it. I’m fond of anything I can do to let myself off the hook. Anyway, it’s still a cool picture. My favorite locomotive ID site (rrpicturearchives.net) identifies locomotive #5443 as two different engines – an ES40DC and an ES44DC. I’m not certain which it is. I thought it was an ES44 (4,400 HP) but they have “derated” some of those. But this is on the front of ~10,000 tons of coal going downhill so they are more likely to have lots of HP on the front:

General Electric "Evolution Series" ES44DC locomotive

Perhaps you heard a certain brilliant human being died before his time that day. RIP, Steve:

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

Mackey and Roux and Turner and I made it to the river as the sun rose the following morning. All was right with the world:

A fine October morning

Roux leaves the river the way all dogs should leave the river, with zero left in the tank. This is a pose she’s recently adopted; now she does it following every hike:

If you snooze, you win

Evelyn joined us Sunday. Can you blame her?:

church

Evelyn and I and I’m pretty certain the dogs enjoy looking at the birds and the trees and the sky. The resident waterfowl choose another perspective:

Looking at the bottom (Get it!? I got a million of 'em!)

Thursday’s here again, I’m happy to say. The New Friday. Even though I have to work today and a lot tomorrow. But Thursday is our early river morning and I always love it. We saw a nice looking heron this morning. I’ve never heard from anyone – and I’ve researched it a little (that means more than just Wikipedia) – is there any way from a distance to distinguish between an adult male and an adult female? I think there’s not. Enlighten me if you know. Anyway, whatever the gender, this is a fine looking bird:

A very Handsome Heron

I never (not ever) get tired of looking at the river. But here’s a nice picture of a little fog lingering at the pasture on our way out this morning:

Fog drifting off the pasture

Have a great day,

Jay and friends

Posted in Dogs, Fun, People, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 2 Comments

The river this morning

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Jay McLaughlin

29 September, 2011    The River This Morning

There was nothing earth-shaking (literally or figuratively) at Pony Pasture early this morning when I took Mackey and Roux and Turner on our Thursday hike. No mysteries of the universe were revealed, or at least no more than are revealed every time we’re there. And the light wasn’t award-winning, and the mosquitoes remain pesky. But a few pictures came out well, and they’re worth a post. In my opinion.

It’s going to frost in a month or so. That will be fantastic because the mosquitoes will be gone. I’m sure their mothers love them but personally I’d be as happy if they were somewhere I’m not. But the other thing about frost is, soon there will be no flowers until spring. So I’m getting a couple of pictures of the ones that remain. It’s misty at Pony Pasture in the morning now, and we’re arriving right at sunrise. The light we see is different all the time. Thursdays mornings we arrive around 7:15. When we get there in mid-June at the same time of day, the sun’s been up for an hour and a half. It comes up around 5:50. Now it’s just peeking over the horizon. The first week of November, just before the time changes, will be the latest sunrises of the year. It won’t come up until 7:40! It’s fun watching it change. Anyway, a picture or two. It was cloudy and right at sunrise. This picture is looking east, downstream, toward the sunrise, and it was gray and overcast and nearly monochrome:

Early fall at Pony Pasture

This is standing in nearly the same spot, only turned upstream, and there’s a splash of color:

A tiny bit more color

When we head down the river a little, there’s less breeze and the mist lingers:

Fading to monochrome again, at least for the time being

That early in the morning color, as you see, is difficult to find. In the winter it will be nearly absent on overcast days. Some of the remaining flowers are whole, but most are threadbare or gone. This one is threadbare but the yellow is so bright:

Threadbare but bright

This flower is quite small but not yet entirely threadbare. It’s perky and cheerful and ready for the sun come out. Which it eventually did:

Small but glowing

After pondering for some time – these tasks involve an inordinate amount of pondering – I cleaned out my gutters and my shed roof yesterday. I also spent time straightening the tattered remains of my gardening efforts for 2011. I still have a little handful of tomatoes:

Also small, also glowing

I shouldn’t have allowed my basil to flower but since I did I’ll enjoy it; it looks nice:

Basil looking beautiful

Mackey and Roux and Turner are great. This house is never quieter than the day after a river hike. Have a great day,

Jay

Posted in Flowers, Fun, Rivers, Smiles (including "dog smiles"!) | 8 Comments