I am Published

As of May 3, 2010 I am officially published!  Of course there was the whole Master's Thesis back in 1996 but unless you were interested in Forage Science Research you probably wouldn't have run across it. Here is the link to the book The Ultimate Runner :

http://www.hcibooks.com/p-3991-the-ultimate-runner.aspx

Now I am searching for the next article to work on.  I have coauthored with Axie which has been very fun, challenging and inspiring.  Looking forward to more of that!!

Running in St. Thomas

If I hadn't quit drinking I would not have run 7 miles on the boardwalk in St Thomas this morning.  I wouldn't even be on St Thomas right now helping our friend out with his boat.  Who knows where I'd be right now...but I am fairly certain I would not be in the Caribbean.  I do know I wouldn't be getting up in the wee hours of the morning to run.  I wouldn't be feeling this good and enjoying life.

If I hadn't quit drinking I'd be nauseous, guilt ridden, depressed, bloated and hungover. I observe friends and acquaintances drink to excess every day and witness the aftermath the next day....only to begin the process all over again...maybe in search of a different outcome, but there isn't.  Just the same old shit, different day.    Like the old me they are dependent  on alcohol.  It is sad.  It is sickening.  The tail is wagging the dog.  I am so glad it is not me anymore. I ran 7 miles on the boardwalk of St Thomas this morning!    

Diving with Friends

The ocean has been great for diving this past week.  I had the opportunity to go twice. Once on Thursday for the rescue dive class and the other on Friday just for fun with a few of my diving friends.  We took our own boat out on Friday with 5 of us divers aboard.  It was a perfect day.  Flat ocean, low current and super visibility.

I  began scuba just this year.  I was hooked after my first time.  I developed a real rapport with my dive buddy, Dirk, in the open water course.  We took the advanced open water together and just finished the rescue diver course yesterday. Dirk and I stayed with the same instructor, Catalina Aponte through all 3 courses.  Dirk and I were terribly spoiled as we were usually the only students, but we received great instruction and one on one attention.  We learned a lot and laughed a lot, laughing at times at the language barriers that occurr when you have a Colombian instructor teaching in English to an American and a Dutch. All in all it was a great life changing experience.  It saddens me that Catalina heads back to Colombia this Tuesday and Dirk leaves for Holland in 2 weeks.  I will miss them both, but will never forget them and our experiences we shared diving and becoming friends. 

I have become enthralled with ocean life.  I have a creature list, a coral list and a dive log.  My newest addition to the creature list is the green moray eel....so ugly its cute.   I spied it first and grabbed my tank banger to get the attention of the others. I am backing up some at this point because out little friend is slithering out of the crevice he was floating peacefully in.  I sucked more air than I really needed to but my heart rate elevated some and I admit he was a bit scary.  My friend Don had my camera.

Catalina said it best about Fridays' diving.  It was perfect (don't forget the Colombian accent!)

Runners Diet

As a runner I find all the diet advice very confusing to say the least.  There are enough books, research articles and blogs on this topic it makes my head spin.  Carb loading, for example, seems very popular yet I crash and burn with that practice. When I get off on some tangent I come back to my reality with this thought.  "Return to what you know."  I utilize this thought often when I get sided tracked.  So what do I know?  I know that I don't function well with too many simple carbohydrate.  I need protein.  Sugar and foods containing yeast don't  agree with my body.  I have blood work that confirm this, but that is me.  Every individual is different.  So rather than jump on some new runners diet bandwagon I suggest finding out what works and stick wit it.  I found this article on protein and runners very interesting and insightful. 
 http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-300--12554-1-1-2,00.html#

More to the Story

I found this article on the missing boat that was headed to Antigua. 

http://www.antiguasunonline.com/news/local/256556-sea-rescueman-found-after-36-hours-two-companions-still-missing.html

Guess we know more now.

We Will Miss Micheal Arendell--Bannie

I had a very nice day today but then life can change in the blink of an eye.  The sun was shining (been cloudy for well over a week), had a very nice early morning run followed by deep yoga stretches, got my household chores done, my daughter got her cattle to market and life was flowing along nicely. I appreciated the nice little moments of the morning.  Then things changed quickly.  One of my dogs, the Jack Russell Terrier, Addy, got stung multiple times by wasps and swelled up like crazy.  I suppose that is what she gets for sticking her head in places where it doesn't belong.  But nonetheless I treated her swollen face and babied her some.  Then we get a phone call that one of our good friends Bonnie died this morning.  It appears he had a heart attack.  Looks can be deceiving as he always seemed very fit and healthy.  He was a waiter/bartender at our local hangout and was in love with Addy.  Addy loved him back.  He never failed to bring her scraps every time we were there.  Like everyday.  Once Bunnie, short on table scraps, had the chef grill up a Filet Mignon for her!

Bonnie was a humorous man, full of good jokes and card tricks.  He was warm, sensitive and tenderhearted.  I know he struggled with alcoholism in the past but it seemed he had a good handle on things lately.  He took his hat off to me for maintaining sobriety in this environment.  Like I said before, it ain't easy.

So Bonnie we will all miss you and our little restaurant will never be quite the same.  Addy?  she will keep looking around the restaurant for you.  Go in peace my friend.

Shortly after getting the news about Bonnie we hear some acquaintances of ours from Antigua were making the ocean journey back home but apparently didn't make it.  The story is sketchy as of yet but so far we know that 2 of the 3 sailors are dead, one is hospitalized and the boat is adrift according to Antigua coast guard.  There is some question as to whether the man in the hospital is off the boat or another man.  Pirates immediately come to mind.  The ocean was very rough that day as well but not sunk, just adrift with (rumor has it) 500 cases of Heineken on board.  We may never really know what happened.  Just very tragic. They were Caribbean men full of life and laughs. Maybe today we will hear more via the coconut telegraph.

Link Day

I am new to blogging so some of this technical stuff challenges me.  For example I just learned how to add photos!!  Ye-haw alert the media.  Today I am going to attempt to add a link.  After spending the entire morning writing and editing another project I desperately need to get away from the computer and accomplish some other things. So short and sweet today.   This is the link to the book I have a piece in.  It is to be released on May 3. The book is available on Amazon too.
       www.hcibooks.com/p-3991-the-ultimate-runner.aspx