Land ho ...

"Land ho!!" No two words are sweeter to hear after spending a few days out to sea, far from land. Okay, I was only out to sea for a little over nine days but that was still long enough to yearn to be on solid ground. I just got back from a work trip supporting a mission off the Hawaiian islands. We got back to land on the 16th. Part of my job is to go to the 50th state and push buttons for a living to protect the public from any errant flying things. Sometimes I do it on Kauai, and sometimes I get to spend a week or so on board the good ship MATSS. By the way, to the right of the tug boat in the picture, dead center, is Diamond Head area viewed from about 25 miles out to the southwest of it.

The good ship MATSS is a converted portion of a World War II floating dry dock. Back then the Navy had these floating dry docks in the Pacific theater so they can repair ships near the battlefront instead of bringing them back to Pearl Harbor. Each of these portions are about 250 feet long and 75 feet wide. For perspective the big radar antenna in the picture has a 24 foot diameter. Any ways the barge, as I call it, has been outfitted with many kinds of instrumentation in order to support these missions and tests for the Navy, which has graciously been paying my salary for over 23 years now. So about once a year, maybe twice, I volunteer to ride the barge and take my turn to be the protector of the Hawaiian Islands. There are some perks to riding the barge, like getting a lot of overtime pay and lots of pretty good Hawaiian food. With the new me I don't eat as much of the food as I used to, but I still eat it and love it. A big negative for me these days is that I don't get to run. The barge is not equipped with an engine and must be towed all over the place at a gentle 5-7 knots. The slow speed and the flat bottom makes for a rolling and pitching deck not conducive to running on the deck. Besides, there are many obstacles on the deck to go around, plus it rains a lot in the middle of the ocean making the deck slippery as well. So any exercise I was able to do took the form of walking. I was able to sneak in 15 or 30 minute walking periods now and then but at a leisurely 3 mph pace. But as it was pointed out to me, I got to work on my core just trying to balance myself on the deck.

But enough of the work talk, this blog isn't about my work. I was able to sneak in a couple of short runs on land before the barge left the port in Pearl Harbor. I figured the best time to run in the Waikiki area is at 5 am, when it isn't as warm yet. The humidity is high but at least it's not in the upper 80s already. Even at 5 am I wasn't the only one who had the same idea. I saw many dozens of people running at that time. Even saw a couple of moms pushing their strollers out during their early morning jog. Much to my surprise I was able to maintain a ten minute mile pace through both sessions. Guess those runs on Saturday mornings along the Ventura coast is helping me figure out my pace when I run solo.

An even bigger surprise to me was after when we got back from our "cruise", I was able to get in a 3 mile run the very same day, in the late Waikiki afternoon and I also was able to keep about a ten and a half minute mile pace!! It was a little slower since it was warmer and I hadn't run in nine days, but it felt good to stretch the legs out. So good that I just had to get my picture taken sans shirt - actually I ran sans shirt. The shirt would have been drenched even in that short time frame - my shorts were pretty wet and I never got in the water. Flew back home the next day and took today off from work so I can get back to the right time zone and also try to get in a run. I think I am adjusted back to CA time, and I was able to get in a run in this afternoon. It turned out to be a little more than a 10K and I did it in just over 1 hour. Not bad for not having run a longer distance than 3 in about two weeks. I did have to stop a couple of times to walk and rest up a bit. The one thing that caught me by surprise is how tired my arms got trying to keep my form good during the run. Holding the arms bent at 90 degrees takes some effort and I haven't done that in a while so I had to let my arms dangle down as I ran to rest them. Something else I need to work on. Maybe I will bring my exercise bands to work so I can work out the arms while just sitting at my desk. Back to the old office grind tomorrow, but I'm happier to be able to go to the track workout tomorrow night. It has been something I've missed the last three weeks now. The half marathon in June is a few weeks away and I need to get more serious in my training.