Day 46

It's hard to believe we're coming up on Day 50...only a few days away. Today was a back-flip from yesterday. Yesterday = crud. Today = pretty good. No overnight "alarm clocks"....ie: rocket attacks, so that's good. Got about 6 1/2 hours of sleep. Going to be a lot less tonight...about 5, but it's worth it. Again...gotta write!

The office was busy today. A new Air Force officer showed up who is relieving the other Air Force officer I've been writing about. The new one is a fitness freak...big into CrossFit. I've been thinking about CrossFit for quite a long time and am considering getting schooled by this guy a bit. However, my running is coming back to me finally which is my passion...not necessarily working out in a gym. I just like to run. We'll see how things progress. I had a good pile of e-mails to work on right away. My counterparts back in the States who work while we sleep are very good at sending us work which waits for us in the morning. Definitely makes it more difficult to communicate timely so shifting my work hours in the future is a possibility...but working 14-16 hours is not something I am wanting to do. Boundaries...remember? I have also learned that this "erector set" project is not necessarily a full time commitment. I already have a great handle on it and have made some great improvements. But, another sailor in our office is getting ready to depart and his relief just got canceled which creates a void in the office. His job is largely administrative. It involves a daily accounting of all personnel in the region, planning travel in/out of country and between "theme parks," handling everything "office" like our computer systems, etc. It is not an officer's job but I can take on the job and do my other function in parallel. I love to multi-task and love a challenge.  I expect this will be somewhat temporary until someone else shows up and I'll be pushed into another area of responsibility. That's good...anything that makes the days go by faster is good by me.

I also got to chat with Tin Man this afternoon online. She's a great typer so it was great to "talk" to her for a bit before she headed to school. I also checked in with Dorothy...Scarecrow was home sick again today. She couldn't even stay awake today...totally wiped out.

After about 11 hours in the office, I headed on back to my CHU and grabbed some dinner with my boss. Always great to have some alone time with him and chat about stuff. He's a seasoned, senior Army officer so it's a totally different perspective than what I'm used to in the Navy and I like to bounce ideas off of him and get some wisdom and guidance from him to make me better. Afterwards, some time watching some tube to let the food settle then it was treadmill time.

Treadmill...or dreadmill as I often say, is not my first choice...it's definitely my last choice. But, something is starting here in Oz which is called the "120 Days of Wind." It starts right around now. Wind, wind, wind and rarely a drop of rain...even though we can see the rain falling over the mountains...it's just so dry here it doesn't hit the ground. With all the dust and sand here, the wind churns it all up and running outside on a night like tonight...well, my lungs would be caked with that crud. No thanks. So, I put on my Vibram FiveFingers, grabbed my jukebox (my iPhone) and headed to the gym. Why didn't someone tell me to cover up the screen so I can't see the distance tick away at .01 mile at a time? SO much better when that's not in front of me. What IS in front of me is a beige-painted wall...about 3 feet in front of me. Great, huh? So, it was time for a mental invasion...I was going on a trail run...on one of my favorite sections of trail. Pine Lane Trailhead to Boston Store and back...

"I headed out from Pine Lane and down the gradual downhill and under the umbrella of pines which are there year-round. Gorgeous out, Spring springing and mud...lots of mud. The rain has been relentless. Down the stairs I went and curved to the right which led to a fast downhill and ducking under a fallen tree. I made the horseshoe turn to the left then followed the trail along the creek . Down and a quick up right before the always-covered mossy logs. Great picture spot any time of year. With all the rain, those logs were a bright green. Just past that was the water crossing. Oh yea...the ice water felt GREAT! Up over my ankles today with all the rain. Following the trail from the creek bed led me to the biggest climb on this section. I love taking pictures here in all seasons and today was no different. This climb is a great lung-burner. Once to the top, I headed on up to the short asphalt section to further connect to the trail. This section here is pretty easy as I approach the reason for the name...Pine Lane. At about 2 miles in, I took a sharp left in to the row of Pines and punishing roots. Punishing, that is, if you don't pick your feet up. This is a great section to eat root if you're not careful. After passing through, I headed down the steep hill and climbed over the guardrail then hung a left over the Turnpike. As I always do, I did my best to get a semi-driver to blast his horn at me...success!!! After the bridge, I ducked back down to the trail which gets super twisty from here on out. The challenging section is over but the trail remains gorgeous. At around a mile out from Boston Store, there are a series of switchbacks which lead down to a short bridge before heading right back up again. Once at the top, a beautiful view of the Valley over the Turnpike. After a quick pause to soak in the scenery, I headed on down the trail, eventually to a rapid descent and off the main trail. Some crushed limestone led me the final 1/2 mile to Boston Store where I got some water. 4.05 miles done. I turned around and headed on back. It was like running a different trail going back...always looks different from the other direction! At the end, it was a wrap at 8.1 miles for the day. Man, I love this trail. Fresh air, dirt/mud beneath my feet, cold water streams, birds singing, and the sun shining. It really doesn't get any better than this."

Yea, I was in la-la land on the treadmill...visualizing every step just like I wrote. The time flew by and great music helped. What is it about 80's hair band? Anyway, I ran my longest ever barefoot/Vibram FiveFingers at 8.1 miles in about 1hr, 13min, all at 1% incline. Great end to a pretty decent day. It's 12:15am here so time to call it a night.

Goodnight, everyone.