A Thought About XC

* Track conditioning starts next week and the kids have been chomping at the bit to get back to running, training, and racing; even though as several have noted, that they quote, "hate running in circles." One student in fact has asked me EVERYDAY since the end of XC season when does track begin. If you think this is hyperbole, please know it is not. I ran (pun intended) across this yesterday and just wanted to share it. Hope you enjoy. And if you are reading this, we have survived this:

that really actually only turned out to be this

Read and enjoy. 

Dathan Ritzenhein on the track.

Cross country is racing in its purest form and it always brings me back to the pure love of competition. I don’t look at the clock and check my splits or worry about the weather. You get out there and just go, trying to push it to the max. I have had some battle royals with great runners as well as some total blow outs and that excitement is something I love. The strategy in cross country is so much more than on the track or road. On the track you just try not to get dropped and kick at the end. One the road you can focus on time and splits. But in cross country things can change all the time, and you need to know your body and be ready mentally prepared to run on your own. It doesn’t matter if you have dropped everyone or you are being dropped, you have to be able to push yourself.

DR running the world's best sport: XC

Happy Wednesday,

    David

The Christmas Ukulele

 * I know. I know. You, the faithful reader of the Hines Terrace Herald, are saying, "Hey, enough with the Christmas posts. It's already January 26th. Move on, already!" Well, you can count your lucky stars. This is the last Christmas related post till next December. Unless I find some other cool pictures of  a yuletide FH and then you will have to wade through another sentimental post filled with cutsey pics and I make no apologies. 

Here I am on Christmas morning playing my new ukulele and serenading Mel and Ford as Ford eats. 

     Mel is a great gift giver. Each Christmas, she always gets me something I didn't ask for, but it always ends up being something that I really like and use a lot. She is the one who gave me my first bow tie. I opened it and thought it was neat, but I didn't think it would end up being something that many people remember or define me by. When she was in college and I was just her boyfriend, she bought us tickets to go see David Gray at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta and it ended up being one of the best concerts that I've ever been too. And one year, she gave me an espresso machine. It is awesome and when time allows, it is very fun to make my own breve latte and make Mel her signature "Two Pump Mocha". For several years, she gave me tree ornaments that represented things I care about like biking, hiking, my first (and only marathon), and a little cabin for the year I lived in a stone cabin at Alpine Camp for Boys. And another Christmas, she gave me a book stamp that reads: "This book belongs to J. David Dark". It sounds nerdy I know, but I am a self-proclaimed bibliophile and it is exactly what I needed. And then for the year I began my life as a teacher, she gave me an "official" teacher's messenger bag and I am still carrying it eight years later to school each and every day. You get the point, or at least I hope so. Mel is a great gift giver and she surprises me each year. I never know what it'll be, but it always is something unexpected and I end up really liking it.

    This year, she warned me. She told me early in December that she had taken a chance and hoped it didn't backfire on her. I wasn't worried, but she seemed to be. On Christmas morning, when all the presents were handed out, she told me to open her gift first. And so I did. It was an odd-shaped box and I shook it a little, but it didn't make much of noise and I really had no clue as to what it could be. Nothing I had written down on my little Christmas list came in box that was that big. So, I tore off the paper and the box was labeled "Oscar Schmidt" and I quickly assumed (wrongly) that it was a mandolin, but then I opened it and saw it was a ukulele and I thought, "A ukulele? Cool. Neat. Weird?" I had never thought about getting a ukulele or even playing a ukulele. My only connection with "ukes" was that extra large Hawaiian man who plays that very cool and hip version of, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and of the King holding one and playing it while wearing an extra-tight bathing suit and completely surrounded by beach babes in Blue Hawaii. So, I pulled it out and gave it a good looking-over and instantly felt like I was really going to like this little thing. Ford and Mel also gave me a very nifty and very useful ukulele-specific tuner that fits handedly on the head of the uke. It is a Snark tuner and has been very handy, indeed.

    It is an Oscar Schmidt tenor ukulele. It isn't the cheapest one you can get and it isn't the best one money can buy. It is a great little instrument and I've had a really good time learning to play it. I've had it a month and play it almost everyday. There are a great many uke-friendly and uke-themed websites out there and they've been very helpful as I try to learn a completely new instrument; especially the user-friendly website of Dr. Uke! Mel also found some very useful apps that we downloaded to our super-cool new iPad (Thanks mom and dad a 1000x). I have learned about 15 or so chords and about 5 or 6 songs by memory and can play along to many more. FH likes it and we carry it all around the house and yard and make our merry music. He seems to really like it and I think we can really anticipate the formation of a Dark Family band that may rival the ole' Van Trapp family; except we won't have a Maria, but we do have an FH and a uke. What will be more awesome than a 3 year old who can play a uke, I ask you? Nothing is the correct reply.

The King and a Uke.

My uke taking a swing. 

Thanks for reading and here's to many years of great songs coming out of my little uke,

   David

Recollection from a Life Half-Lived--I

* This is a work of fiction, but about 99.9% of it is from real life. 

  Stinging rays of radiation hit him on his back that was still lightly browned from a long summer of not wearing a shirt and the Fall that had proven to be more warmth than cold. He had been digging a long time; a day and a half to be exact. The hole seemed to be at a standstill now and the shoveling had grown dull and lonesome. He couldn't even look at Beau anymore. It was all too hard now. He had had him since he was 12 and today he was turning 19. He still felt 12 and wondered if he would ever feel any different. The sweat now poured profusely out of his body and stung his eyes and the many new cuts and blisters on his arms, hands, and legs and still he kept digging.

   He looked across the small field and Beau looked a little like he had when had first arrived. It was sad. The boy's emotions went from sadness to extreme anger. He hated so much of what life had become. It seemed to all culminate with him digging a grave; a horse-sized grave. His horse's grave. He hated the hole and he hated the digging. He wanted so badly to finish the hole and he wanted so badly to never finish the hole. When he finished, they would shoot Beau. He knew they needed to, but he hated the whole situation. Beau had been his, but now Beau was sick and he felt nothing, but guilt. He had ignored him for far too long. He had loved the horse so much. He had been his horse and no one would actual know what that truly felt like except for him. And to be honest, he had never been just a tan horse with a grandiose name acquired with money that had been earned doing chores around his parent's home. He had secretly named him as one of his closest friends when all of life becomes so awkward between the ages of thirteen and fifteen. And soon the sweat blinded the boy and fell down the handle of the wooden shovel and all the world took the shape of the hole and it began to grow deeper and deeper and it began to draw everything into itself and the cancer that was in the horse's sinus cavities grew into the hole and it began to kill everything it rooted itself into; except the boy who kept trying to dig. And all the world became digging and moved in the motion of a man who has become one with his spade, but the hole never got any deeper and the boy just kept digging at the earth that lay before him, but nothing ever stayed on the blade of the shovel.

   Later that night, they would shoot Beau. The boy's father would do it while the boy held the reins. Before he pulled the trigger, the father spoke in low, gentle tones and thanked the horse for loving his family and for being so kindly of a servant and a friend and lastly, the father pleadingly apologized to the horse for what he was about to do. The boy trembled and cried softy as his father's tender words hit his ears and he felt the coldness of the night and the coldness of his father's hands on the gun and on the horse's neck. So, did the father. The boy didn't remember the shot or how it had sounded so close to his ears and warm blood from the horse hit the boy's cheek and arm and the horse instantly fell, but he hadn't fallen into the hole like they had planned. So, they had to hook a rope to his reins and pull him into the middle of the hole with a tractor and the boy had, had to climb down into the hole and unhook the reins. The boy's younger sister helped them cover the horse and he had hated that she had been drafted to help. They worked quickly and quietly and the only sounds that were made were the sounds of metal moving hardened dirt, but they worked together because they were a family. After they had finished, they walked inside, washed up, changed clothes, got into the car loaded with luggage and drove north to the mountains to where they hoped to bury their memories deep into the hidden coves. They would all cry separately on the drive there and back, but it would be a crying that never really ended, just moved like a stream does when there is fresh water added to it in the late Spring from the melting snows, but dries up when summer is at full blaze. And they moved through the night speeding away from the hole and the boy remembered that it was his birthday.

Plantar Fasciitis--A Tragedy in Multiple Acts

        Plantar faciitas is one of the most common of all injuries that plague runners each year. In the seven years that I have been a XC & Track coach, this has been the injury I have seen go from an almost unheard of injury to one that I hear about or deal with on a weekly basis. So much so, that it is beginning to rival the ole' "go-to's": the sprained ankle and shin splints. I know that I am not alone in this because I talk with other coaches and runners and they say about the same thing. I also spend too much time at a menagerie of running websites and if you do a quick search of the injury, you will get more results than you wanted. Performing a simple search on Google will give over 4 million results. And since last October, it is an injury that I, myself, have dealt with and I will easily say it has been the most nagging of any running-related injury I have acquired in the past 10 years that I have been actively into running. It is also an injury that takes a long time to heal and may never do so. If you have it, you know what I'm referring to. If you don't have it or are not sure you do, this blog may be helpful to you. I am hoping it is helpful to all who use their feet for walking or running because they are the victims to this widespread injury. I have done a lot of reading about this injury for both personal use and for information to benefit myself as a coach. I have gotten most of what can be found in this post from five places: personal experience, Running Times & Runner's World magazines, Web MD and the U.S. National Library of Medicine.  So, what is planter fasciitis?

    Very simply, plantar fasciitis is the inflammation of the thick tissue on the bottom of the foot. This tissue is named the plantar fascia and is where the injury acquires its name. This is the tissue that connects the heel bones to the toes and forms the arch that you see in your foot. If you look at the first three pictures I have included, you can see the different key parts of the foot and where the pain is coming from that results in the injury we all know is plantar fasciitis. So, what are some symptoms of the injury? 

     Besides constant pain, soreness, and discomfort, one of the first things most people notice is that it will hurt to walk when you first get out of bed during your first several steps of the day. I know this was and is very true for me. It is as if your foot turns into a stiff object and you have to stretch it in order for it to work. The pain it causes can either be brief or last as long as you are on your feet depending on the severity of the injury. It can also increase if you stand a lot or participate in increase physical activity or climb stairs. And at times, the injury may ache or even burn. Untreated, plantar fascitiis can be so sensitive that it will hurt to even put the slightest amount of pressure on it. The oddest part for me however, was the fact that it would hurt all day, but it would seem to completely disappear while I stretched and actually ran. It would also oddly appear to be completely well and then surface out of the blue after a day of wearing the wrong shoes and standing a lot. So, how does one get plantar fasciitis?

     The most common reasons for acquiring plantar fasciitis are increased levels of physical activity or the genetic disposition for flat feet or high arches. Other reasons can be sudden weight gain, high levels of obesity, poor shoe choice, or a tight or injuried achilles tendon (the tendon that attaches the calf to your heel). There are other reasons, but I have listed the most prevalent ones. I believe my own case of plantar fasciitis can be traced to my pulling or tearing of my achilles tendon over a year and a half ago. I did not allow it to heal as I should have and can still feel a tightness in the tendon and now I have to stretch extra in order to compensate for it. However, most runners get this nagging injury from doing too much too soon. You may disagree with this, but it is true, or it has been true in most cases that I have heard about. Running is a rough sport on your body. No, you aren't tackling 300 lb. guys or getting tackled by them, but you are putting 4 lbs. of compacted pressure per single lb. of body weight on all of your muscles, joints, tendons, and bones. In my case, I am putting 672 lbs. of pressure on my feet and knees for every step I push to the ground. And I do most of my out of season running on concrete surfaces which make the pounding even worse on my body. 

   Another culprit for the spike in plantar fasciitis in the last several years, I believe, is the increase in people's and shoe companies' desire to dive whole-heartedly into the "barefoot" or "minimalist" running fad. You take for instance a guy who weighs 170-200 lbs.,  who wears a "minimalist" shoe and has not been a runner for very long, who is doing his runs mostly on concrete or hard surfaces, and who decides to train for a half marathon or a marathon after only running for a year and what you get is a guy who is putting around 800 lbs of pressure on his body while basically running barefoot on concrete. And this results in that same man being constantly injured and you have a guy who either gives up running entierly or decides he will run at a greatly diminished capacity. This is a fake anecdote, but if you look around, it doesn't seem so unreal. It sounds like something you hear about all the time. I know Christopher McDougall and his legions of converst would disagree, but that is okay. He is a millionaire and an author and I am a running coach and as they say, "down in the trenches" with the common runners. So, now that you think you may have plantar fasciitis, what can you or should you do for it? 

    The simplest answer or remedy is to rest. For simple or minor cases, a week of resting your foot, doing the above-pictured stretches, and icing it several times a week for 15 minutes at a time will be just what you need. For severe cases, resting it for several weeks or even months may be exactly what you need, but don't want to hear. If it is a persistent case, then it may call for you to begin using one of the plethora of medical devices that have been put to market to help with this injury. There are orthotics or inserts, there are socks, there are splints you wear at night, there are heel cups, special shoes, and in the most severe cases, there are steroid shots and boot casts that some I know have had to wear for several months. And as I was advised, it is best to just try one item as a time, that way you can truly say it is a single variable that is either helping or hurting instead of having so many variables going at once that you can't say what is or isn't leading to your recovery. For me personally, I chose to buy the Powerstep insoles or orthotics.  They can usually be found for $40, but most places sell them at a cheaper price. I got mine at our local running store, Run Fit Sports, and I will say that they were a good use of money. My case of plantar fasciitis had gotten so bad that it even hurt for me to stand up, which was bad since I stand for 7.5 to 8 of the 9/10 hours a day that I spend at work. And during XC or Track seasons, I stand, walk, or run for 10-11 of the 12-13 hours I spend a day at work With a combination of rest, ice, stretching, new shoes, and the insoles, I will say that my plantar fasciitis is on the mend. I won't say it has healed, but it only hurts on occasion.     

   

   Well, there is the post. I have not written everything there is to know about plantar fasciitis nor have I explained all the different options for recovery. It has been my desire to write an informational post that contains most of the facts and recovery options. If you think plantar fasciitis is something you may be struggling with, I would advise a lot of what I have suggested, but I would also say to visit a doctor and do some researching of it for yourself.  I hope this post has been helpful to you and I hope your 2013 running or walking plans are injury free.

Happy reading and running,

    David

Fantastic Ford, Majestic Mel & Delicious Dave's Italian Wonder Sandwich

   Mel and I don't have cable, digital, or satellite television. We don't have it for a multitude of reasons, but it doesn't seem to hurt us. We do wish we had it sometimes, but then we see the price of it or hear many of our friend's complaints about the price or some other cable-company related problem and then we give much thanks for our $16 dollar a month Netflix bill. But...when we are near it, we are like those people who don't eat sugar and when they get to, they soak it up like a sponge. I know, it's not good, but what are you gonna do? When we go to either of our parent's homes, we tend to find ourselves not that far from the old boob tube. Over the Christmas holidays, Mel, Ford, and I watched a seemingly endless marathon of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It is a good show, but many of the food items that the host has to put down, seem like something I hope to never have to consume. However, on one of the episodes, the host went to an old sandwich shop in either NYC or Jersey and they served up this hot Italian sandwich that was topped with fresh mozzarella and then baked in the oven till the cheese was melted and it looked SO good and I made it up in my mind to try to make something very close to it once we had gotten back to our house. So, I consulted Mel, my mom, the "interweb", and around 10 of Mel's cookbooks, but in the end just decided to go rogue and do it by what may seem good together and in the end come together to make a delicious Italian sandwich. Here is exactly what I purchased, took out of our pantry, or got from our garden:

Shopping List: 

1 28 oz can of Tuttorosso crushed tomatoes

1 14.5 oz can of Hunt's diced tomatoes

1 8 oz can of Goya tomato sauce with garlic and cilantro

1 large bell pepper

1 small white onion

Pesto

Minced garlic

Olive Oil

Onion salt

2 packs of sirloin tip side steaks

French/Cuban Sub Rolls

Fresh mozzarella

  And here is how to cook/make this delectable sandwich. This recipe makes enough for 4 six inch subs and there will be sauce leftover for your own new creations:

      In one pan, put a layer of olive oil, two tablespoons of minced garlic, and two tablespoons of pesto together, put the heat at about 5 (out of 10) and begin sauteing. After the garlic and pesto have cooked down a little, add finely chopped onions and your bell pepper. You can decide how big you want the bell pepper pieces to be. I did longer strips. After all of this has cooked down, add a little more olive oil. Leave the heat at mid-range and add all three cans of tomatoes and you don't need to drain the can of crushed tomatoes or the can of tomato sauce, but you do need to drain the can of diced tomatoes. After you have added the tomatoes, put a lid on this little concoction, turn up the heat, and let it cook.  

     

       In another pan, put about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and put the sirloin tip steaks into the pan and brown both sides of the beef. Sprinkle both sides of the meat lightly with onion salt for flavor. Continually watch the meat and let it cook for several minutes on each side and cook both sides till the meat begins to look pan seared. Once you feel the meat has browned enough, add it to your sauce and push each piece of meat down into the sauce and make sure it is completely covered. Turn the heat of the sauce down to low and let the sauce/meat concoction simmer for several hours. I cooked mine from 3-6pm. 

    After your meat & sauce have had many hours to cook, take your hoagie/sub rolls and slice them down the middle and place them on a flat oven pan that has been covered in foil. When the rolls are sliced and placed on the pan, take a spoon and place several slices of meat along with a good quantity of sauce on the roll. Now comes my favorite part: the cheese. Take the mozzarella and slice it into small circular pieces and place several pieces onto each sandwich. After enough cheese has been added, place it in the oven and either cook at 350 for about 10 minutes or broil until the cheese has browned. Now the sandwich is ready to be enjoyed! Take the piping hot sandwich off the pan and place it onto a plate, add some chips, an apple, and pour yourself a fresh Coke or apple cider. Sit down and take a bite. Make sure the bite has meat, sauce, cheese, and bread and then try to think when you've had a better hot Italian beef sandwich. Yeah, that's right, you haven't. Eat slowly, because you won't be getting one of these for a good while because you will have to make it again in order to get another one that tastes just as good. 

Hope you thoroughly enjoy and happy eating,

  David

    

Just like you won't catch a good fish if you don't hold the tobacco just right in your mouth, this sandwich will not turn out just right if you don't hold you baby just right as you stir the sauce. 

The 14 Days of Christmas Break in Picture Form

A sad picture of Ford's first Christmas tree (or maybe it is just taken with such skill that our current technology hasn't caught up with my deluxe digital camera circa '06 and my skillz.) He loved touching the tree and trying to put all things Christmas tree in his mouth. 

     Teaching doesn't have a lot of perks. And if you're doing it for the perks, then you're crazy AND you're doing it for the wrong reason. If you are a teacher, you understand this. If you aren't, then you can go on believing what the media and the other talking-heads tell you about teachers being overpaid, over rewarded with benefits, only working 5 days a week, and only working from 8-3. My current teaching situation doesn't have a healthcare plan. It doesn't have a retirement plan. It doesn't come with a high paycheck. You don't get much respect or gravitas when you are sitting around with a group of adults and everyone is telling you all about how much money they make and complaining about their First World problems as a way to brag about trips they've taken, cars they drive, clubs they belong to, and the square-footage of their homes. I do at times get the celebrity treatment when certain students see me out in public. In fact, recently, Mel and I took a little date to the movies (the first in 8 months. Thanks Kort and Dorothy) and a couple students saw us and I've heard they took pictures of us and put the pics on Facebook and Instagram. Weird, right? But it is my life. However, just like the American public, the students that revere you can also topple your little statue faster than the army did Saddam's. But....but....but...you do get time off from work. So, when those people are yapping about all they make, I sit around wondering how I'm going to spend my time off. No, I can't go places or do things you see in the magazines I read, but being off for 14 days for Christmas is not too shabby if I do say so myself. You take your trip to Bora Bora on your shabby two week vacation for the year that you live for and I'll take some more time off because it is part of my job! I don't brag much and I don't have much to brag about, but I do get time off and it is SO nice. 

    Instead of enlightening (aka "boring") you on every grand detail about my 14 glorious days of Christmas vacation, I decided to instead let some pictures do the talking along with a little explanation. We spent the time at home, a few hours seeing my parents at the border of GA & FLA, in Fitzgerald with Mel's family for 6 days, and then back at home. If you want better pictures and a wittier explanation, check out Mel's blog. It is a real blog, but you'll have to make do with this. So, here they are:

Many times, my breaks are spent doing things around the house that have needed doing for a long time. This break it was the roof. It was leaking. I found some old flashing and did my best to replace it and stop the leak. I have been 85% effective. 

Every fixed roof needs to be tested. I'm only doing my job.

Chickens are great. Eggs are wonderful, but they also give you other things, but those things go to the compost pile. 

A little moment with Eudora. She loves begin held. NOT.

We decided to include the flock in our Yuletide celebration this year and Mel and I (read mostly Mel) decorated their coop. 

Ford started eating real food over the break. It was about time. We were getting worried. The doc said things wouldn't be good if he wasn't eating by 9 months. He waited till month 8. Little Ford loves his fruit blends and it is a joy to share meals with him. And nobody, and I mean nobody gets dirtier than he does while eating. 

Another pic of little Fordie eating with zest. We are all so happy this is happening. He loves fruit the most, but Mel has started making his food (I realize she has, in a biological sense, already been doing this, but this is different in every way and involves a blender and many trips to the grocery store and some pretty neat or odd combinations). Hey, who wouldn't want to sit down to a bowl of butternut squash, kale, and apples? 

Christmas morning was awesome, in every true sense of the word, with Ford. It was great to share this moment with him. Mel's favorite holiday is Christmas and it was incredible to see her share this holiday with our new son. He got lots of great gifts, but he loved the wrapping paper, bows, and tags much, much more. It was exciting to see his eyes light up with each new gift. I will forever remember waking up Christmas morning with Ford in my arms and Mel to the side of him. It was one of the greatest moments of my entire life. I had everything that I've ever really wanted right there within a few inches of myself.  

Here we are hamming it up for camera. He is getting pretty good at this, but he is getting a lot practice. There is nothing quite as good as getting to hold your boy and share the things you love so much with him. I think I could hold him all day and some days, I get to. 

Vacation and traveling are never good for FH's sleep patterns. They always get way out of whack and at times it makes us think twice about traveling. Ford did a lot things during Christmas break, but sleeping while we were in Fitzgerald was not one of those things. It got to a point where the only place he would sleep was in your arms. So...we spent ALOT of time holding him and doing our best to sleep in the the most comfortable chairs the Hunters have. He would sleep and we would half sleep and now as a parent, I can say half sleep is better than no sleep at all. And nothing is better than handing your kid off to his gracious grandparents and diving back into bed. Nothing. 

The picture isn't great, but 5 months ago, I had a gift card to Academy Sports and I used it to buy a fly fishing rod. I bought it and then it stood in a corner of our house almost completely untouched. On the first night of  Christmas break, we went to Barnes & Noble and I bought a book on fly fishing and while in Fitzgerald, I went "fly fishing" around 5 different times and practiced casting. I will say it is right at about 1000x harder than Brad Pitt makes it look in, "A River Runs Through It". (Click on the link, its worth it.)  It is a really cool way to fish and no, no fish were harmed during the making of this picture.  

Mel's parents have moved to the "country" and out to their farm that is about 6 miles outside of town. The road they now live on is this great half mile dirt road with a beautiful field on the left and some pine woods on the right. Ford, Mel, and myself went for many walks to clear our heads and get some good fresh air. Ford loves being outside like his parents do and when he is worked up or out of sorts, nothing "resets" his mood better than a good walk outside. 

To say that Santa was very good to us this year would be an understatement. And to say that we don't need a car with a little bit more space would also be an understatement. Since, we took our baby, our dogs, a lot of Christmas gifts, and enough luggage for 2 adults and one baby for 6 days, we drove both vehicles down to the Colony City and on the way back, we just barely had enough room for all of Santa's gifts that he got for FH. It was funny that he got all these gifts because his favorite two things were a blue bow and the cardboard tag to a pair of overalls. I'm pretty sure Santa could have spent around $2 and Ford would have been just as happy and just as cognisant. But he did get a lot of nice things that he will use for a long time. 

I will not say much, but this bottle of apple cider vinegar was pretty much full when I first drove into Fitzgerald for the our little holiday stint. The food during our visit was great, but I am pretty sure that each new meal gave me more heartburn that the last one did. There were many times I was hitting the ole' cider several times a day and night. You just have to do what you have to do. 

Once we got back home, we decided it was high time for us to start eating like a real family and it has been so cool. We put Ford's high chair together like a couple of champs and since then we have eaten almost every meal together at the table. It isn't easy and sometimes it doesn't end well, but having FH at the table eating with us is too cool to even really and truly say. 

The face that has won over many a heart!

FH eating his first meal in his high chair. He loves it. He gets so excited for the next bite that he moves his little feet and his little hands till we can rush the next bite in. He has loved all the food so far except green beans. 

One of Ford's great gifts was a little swing for our porch. We already had two hooks on our porch ceiling, but when I tried using them, I realized and quickly saw it would leave the swing about 5 feet off the ground and as the philosopher Sweet Brown says, "ain't nobody got time for that."

After a quick trip to our local ACE (because after all, it is THE place) and a quick exchange of around $20, we were back in business and FH was flying high or just gliding along at around 1.5 feet above the ground. He loves the swing, which is good because we spend about 15 hours a day outside. 

On the day before I had to go back, I had this huge desire to try and make this Italian beef sandwich I had seen on television, so FH and I grabbed a Publix gift certificate (thanks Amy and Forrest) loaded up the car, and bought what we thought might have gone into it. We then came home and cooked till our hearts were content and then some more. Don't worry, there will be a blog post about how to make your very own FH & DD Italian Wonder Sandwich, but don't try to cook it if you aren't going to put some heart into it. We aren't Emeril or Rachel Ray. We are artists in aprons and "sleep & plays". 

The finished product. I know I cooked it and Mel helped us bring it to fruition, but it just may be one of the best hot sandwiches I have ever eaten. Sorry, Quiznos. 

On New Year's Eve, we went over to a friend's house and enjoyed an delicious dinner of smoked turkey and several great sides. Mel brought dessert and everyone was thankful you spelled it with two s'. The dinner was very good and then we sat by a warm bonfire. It was a good and relaxing way to close out a VERY busy and full year. 2012 was a good one, busy, hectic, and at times overwhelming, but it was still very good. We each hope 2013 will be filled with the same. Well, except for that having a pregnant wife and then having your first child during the State Track meet and exams part and then going the next eight months with never more than 4 hours of sleep at a time part.

   Hope your new year is going well so far and we here at Hines Terrace Herald can't say how much we appreciate you taking your time to read our little blog,

  David

Strava.com and the 2013 Base Mile Blast Challenge

      Many moons ago (I am knee deep into a Ken Burns documentary about the West and feel I need to use this term more often), I went on an evening bike ride sponsored by Cherry St. Cycles, the newest bike store in Macon, Ga. It is a great bike store and their sponsored rides (Wednesday night and Sunday night) are some of the best I've ever been on. They remind me of the bike rides you use to go on when you were a kid with about 8 of your friends. The other bike store in Macon sponsors rides too, but they feel like the time you lost your swimsuit at the youth group pool party and people laughed about it in front of your face for the next 25+ years. For the Cherry St. Cycle ride, we rode 15 miles around town and it was so much fun despite the fact that we rode up Coleman Hill and my speed got so low that I considered walking, but then I figured I would be asked to just ride home. On our ride, one of the topics that came up was this new website for cycling. It was called Strava. It got a lot of praise from the guys who really cycle. They said it was a cycling website built and maintained by cyclists. I finished the ride, rode home, and checked it out. It looked pretty cool and useful, so I signed up, and then almost completely forgot about it. Fast forward 8 months (this seems to coincide with something else, but I can't think of what!) and I have dusted the old bike off and am ready to try my hand at riding and commuting again. This was spurned on by the fact that I have re-fractured the cartilage in my rib cage again by falling over our trash can one morning in December in an over-zealous attempt to beat the impeding arrival of our neighborhood trash pick-up and was told that I was to avoid running like the plague, but both those stories are for much later time or maybe never at all. 

     Strava was begun by a team of cyclists who couldn't train together, but wanted a way to make sure their own individual training was on par with that of the entire team. They also wanted a place where they could compare their fitness levels against anyone else that joined the site. And so...they launched strava.com. The site is very easy to use as long as you have a GPS unit of some sort (watch, computer, phone) and it is being agreeable. The site was originally only for cyclists, but now includes runners. As the sites advertises, all you really do is grab your GPS device, go for a ride or run, and upload your activity to Strava.com. And once you've done that, you can see where you ran/rode, the elevation changes, the streets, your pace, your calorie count, and then you can see what others have done over that same course or ride. They also host competitive challenges of all sorts and you can compare your activities with that of the others who are participating in the same challenge. Most of the site is free, but there are also several, more detailed features of the site that require you to become a "Premium" member in order to use. The fee is a little over $6 dollars a month. I will probably not become a "Premium" member because I don't need the additional features for my training because for my runs or rides, even calling them "training" seems a ludicrous to me and no, not the rapper. I'm not being modest, but I feel like the closest I'll get to riding competitively is when I try to beat a car to a red light or catch up to someone riding a stolen kid's bike near our house and they'll never know we were racing.  However, I did race a neighbor kid of mine yesterday and blew him out of the water, but then he said that I ride really fast for an old guy. So...I'm not sure who won. 

    At the beginning of each year, Strava sponsors or hosts something known as the Base Mileage Blast. They have one for running and one for riding. I received an email from Strava in late December and this is what really got me thinking about riding again. The whole idea of the Mileage Blast is to jump start your running or riding year by getting the most runs/rides in as possible during the first month of the year, so that you will have a good base built on which to build the rest of your yearly running/riding regime. I have signed up and am riding. I am happy to be back on my bike, but I will say my results are a little weak. I am currently ranked 12,487 out of the 16,676 people who are participating in the challenge. I mockingly told Mel about ranking and she, the always positive and encouraging one, was so impressed that I was doing better than over 4000 people. Today, is the fourth day of the challenge and by the time I ride home from work later this afternoon, I will have a grand total of around 40 or so miles of riding done. I am going to try to ride 250 miles for January, but we will see. That may sound like a lot, but the current leader of the challenge has ridden 447 miles in only 4 rides. Yeah, that's right, 447 miles, or 111 miles in a day's ride for four straight days. That sort of makes my weak 7 mile commute to work seem a little like hiking 5 miles in N. Florida and then comparing it to a guy who thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail, but least I'm having fun, right? 

   All that said, riding a bike a so much fun. If you haven't done so, go dust off your bike and go for a ride. Few things make you feel eight years old again. Being on a bike makes you really feel like you can go anywhere. I have now ridden my bike to work twice and have ridden it around 6 times since the new year began and have greatly enjoyed each ride. I have even tried going "no-hands" a couple of times like I used to do when I was young. And if my mom and dad are reading this, then know that I have also found the brakes on my rig. I am looking forward to putting one of those toddler carriers on my bike and then Mel, FH, and I will be taking applications for our little bike riding gang or posse that we will be forming. 

Happy reading and riding,

    David

Happy New Year from Hines Terrace Herald

“The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective.”  ― G.K. Chesterton

“For last year's words belong to last year's language 

And next year's words await another voice.” 

― T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

      We here at Hines Terrace Herald want to wish everyone who takes the time to read this blog a very Happy New Year. We hope that 2013 will be a year filled with the things in life that have eternal value.  We hope it is a year filled with lasting joys and true peace. We hope that you will set aside time each day to see the truth, beauty, and goodness that each days holds, but doesn't beg us to see. A new year is an item of great hope in the chance to have 365 days to do the things you meant to do during the last 365 days, but never took the time to do or rather that time didn't let you do. It is a chance for you to be better than yourself from last year. No, I'm not talking about the superficial things, but I am talking about the things you see and know about yourself that makes you shake your head and wish they weren't apart of you, but know they are who you really are. 

     2012 was a hard year for us, but it was a good year. It was the Year of Ford Hendley Dark. He has changed our lives forever, but it is for the better. A wise man once told me that having children was part of the sanctification process and I thought it was an odd thing to say, but when I hold my dear son in my arms or watch my beautiful wife smile at him and work with him with all the patience that a person can have, I think that the wise man wasn't so crazy after all. Having a son has made me think so many new things about Christianity and how God looks upon Christ and how God looks upon me. He is the Father and now I am a father. It humbles me to no end to think about Christ calling out to his "Abba" and his Father having to turn his back to him. I can now think about God looking down and telling everyone that Jesus was His son of whom He was well pleased. I am in no way saying I understand any of this, but can only now sort of get the surface of these thoughts.

    2013 will be the year Ford learns to walk, talk, and I will get to live in those moments with Melissa and we will shape our lives and will forever be changed and it will be for the better. Yes, some things we used to fill our time with will be put on hold or replaced, but when I look at them from this side, they seem a little silly, but I'm glad we did them. It is hard to imagine what I did before I got to watch so many sunrises holding a brown-eyed boy who one day will be able to move his tongue and purse his lips to say daddy and each of us will know that we have a pretty, brown-eyed lady resting upstairs that we both need and love so much. 

 We wish you a very blessed New Year,

   David, Mel, and Ford

James 1:19--This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger;

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[a] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. ¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  Colossians 1:15-20