Monthly Archives: March 2013

USNS Comfort

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HAPPY EASTER!!!
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On Wednesday I had a meeting for work on the Naval Base in Norfolk, VA. At the end of our meeting we had the opportunity to tour the USNS Comfort, one of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships. It has been used to provide relief after disasters such as Haiti, and also provides on-site emergency care for U.S. combatants in a time of war. It has been deployed during Operation Desert Storm, as well as to New York during the terrorist attacks in 2001. It has also served as an afloat trauma center in the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Comfort has also been used for missions, including three Continuing Promise missions in 2007, 2009, and 2011. Continuing Promise is a humanitarian civic assistance mission that has mainly served the Central America region. This involves providing medical and dental care, both on and off the Comfort, including surgeries that take place on board the ship. It also provides civil assistance (including public health training, veterinary services, and engineering education) to the host nations visited during the mission.

This is the helicopter control tower. The Comfort has a flight deck that can handle the world’s largest military helicopters.

The Continuing Promise missions demonstrate the Navy’s ability to be a global force for good, while building relationships with host nations and the non-governmental organizations that assist with the mission. The ship itself is operated by Merchant Marines. The medical folks on board are made up of Naval medical personnel who work side-by-side with civilians from non-governmental organizations (Johns Hopkins, Project Hope, Samaritan’s Feet, World Vets, Operation Smile, etc.).

Most of the parts of the ship we toured resembled a traditional hospital. However, there were other parts that very much reminded you that you were on board a ship. For example, this is the CT machine that they use to evaluate patients.

Looks pretty much like a normal hospital, right? It mostly did, except for the straps here and there to hold equipment down and in place while the ship is moving. The surgical area also looked very much like a hospital.

 
 
If you look closely under the instrument table, you will notice a notch on the floor. This is where they can chain equipment (such as beds, tables, etc.) that are on wheels to the floor to keep them from moving during travel. That’s one of the subtle differences that reminded you that you were on a ship. They also had a minor surgery area, where up to 12 surgeries can take place simultaneously.
 
 
And then there’s the pediatric ward, which I thought looked much more like sleeping quarters than a ward in a hospital.
 
 
 
They’re set up like bunk beds, and there were over 300 beds in this ward. Less critical patients use a ladder to get to the top bunks. There were spots for IV bags to be hung and nurse call buttons. The ship also included a very large ICU, complete with beds equipped with air mattresses to help prevent bed sores (when the skin breaks down from patients laying in one spot with pressure on a particular area). The beds also alarmed if the patient tried to get out of bed. When the ship responded to the disaster in Haiti, they had a special “quiet” section of the ICU sectioned off where patients who had lost limbs woke up from surgery.
 
 
Other areas outside of the hospital portion look more like a typical ship. This wall of payphones is where members of the crew can call home.
 
 
 
However, it costs $2 to connect and then $0.45/minute after that. The ship also has internet capabilities, although it cannot support the bandwidth for crew to use Skype. But it does allow members of the crew to be able to send emails home. We were unable to tour the galley or berthing areas (living quarters) because there are currently Naval personnel and Merchant Marines who live and work on the ship.
 
The ship is 894 feet long, and 106 feet wide. It fits through the Panama Canal by one foot! It has a max speed of 17.5 knots (about 20 mph).
 
USNS Comfort transits the Panama Canal during CP 2011.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Eric C. Tretter/RELEASED)
 
The USNS Comfort was set to deploy for Continuing Promise 2013, but that was recently canceled due to budget limitations imposed by sequestration. However, you can still check out the Continuing Promise Facebook page to see pictures from past missions. In 2011 they visited Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, and Peru.
 
CP 2011 in Guatemala
Photo from the Continuing Promise Facebook page
The content shared in this post came from information shared during our tour of the USNS Comfort and the Continuing Promise Facebook page maintained by the U.S. Navy. 





A long run on the Huckleberry Trail

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As the title indicates, today I did my long run up on the Huckleberry Trail. I felt like a 13 mile long run justified the 40 minute drive to and from Christiansburg. The Huckleberry is a paved trail just shy of 6 miles that runs from Christiansburg to Blacksburg. It is used by walkers, runners, dog walkers, and cyclists. I used to run on this trail for almost every run when I was in school and for the first two years after I graduated. One thing I really miss about this trail is getting to see all the people out and about on a Saturday morning. It’s really enjoyable just seeing everyone and getting to say hi or good morning.

The trail I normally run on at home is the Dora Trail. It is a 2.5 mile trail that starts in downtown Pulaski and connects to the New River State Park Trail. The Dora trail is paved for 0.8 miles and then the rest of it, as well as the state park trail, is crushed gravel. The area is not as populated as the Blacksburg/Christiansburg area, so I usually see a lot less people. Sometimes I don’t see anyone the whole time during a long run. The state park trail also gets use from horseback riders, so we have to watch out for the horses (and their poop).

I also do most of my long runs, whether they’re on the Huckleberry or the Dora, with my running buddy Kim. We ran together on the Huckleberry Trail until Barry and I moved to Pulaski. Conveniently, Kim and her husband happen to be building a house in Pulaski, so now we do most of our long runs on the Dora Trail, which works out nicely. Since they’re building their house here it means we can be life long running buddies! 🙂 However, Kim is out of town this weekend. Boo. Barry came with me today, but we did our long runs separately.

Now that you understand the significance of the Huckleberry Trail, you will understand why I loved every step of my long run today. In general I had one of those really great runs that we dream of, and I think being back on my old trail and seeing so many people really gave me a boost. There’s something to be said about running on a trail that you know every curve and hill by heart.
 
 

Distance- 13.12 miles
Time- 2:17:16
Pace- 10:28/mile
Calories- 1495

As I first started out I was a bit chilly. It was around 33 degrees at the start and I was in shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt. I also felt kind of sluggish for the first mile. But after that I started to feel better and really just enjoyed being back on the trail.

I cruised through the first half of my run and got down to the Blacksburg Library at 6.5 miles. I stopped for a quick bathroom break and to refill my water bottle at the library. I also ate two shot blocks at this point. Then I got back to it.

View of campus from the trail. I love that place.

As I started back up the trail, I passed the memorial for a police officer who was killed on the trail. The first day of class my freshman year a prisoner being treated at the hospital escaped and they had a manhunt in the area for him. Corporal Sutphin found him on the trail, but sadly the prisoner shot and killed him. They apprehended the prisoner 8 hours later and he eventually was sentenced to death. There was a temporary memorial until this was put in place, along with a tree and another plaque.

I continued to feel great through miles 7 and 8, like I was just on top of the world. But miles 8-10 were a little tougher. This is where I went back through the rolling hills that the trail has, and my legs started to feel fatigued. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t still loving every second of being on this trail, because I was.

I stopped and ate two more shot blocks at mile 10 (and dropped my other 2 in the dirt, which I wasn’t happy about….) and kept plugging along. From there I just took it 1 mile at a time until I was back to my starting point at the trail head in Christiansburg. At the end it had warmed up to 46 degrees (it is beautiful outside today!!), but I was still comfortable in my shorts and long sleeve.  


If I could have given the trail a hug at the end of my run I would have. Thanks for a great run, Huckleberry! I miss you.

Barry snapped this picture of me halfway through mile 12, headed for home.

Once our long runs were in the books we did two quick errands and then grabbed some Chick-fil-a for lunch. I love their chargrilled chicken sandwich.
 
 
They were also handing out free samples, like they seem to do every time I’ve been there. Today was ice cream and cookies. I grabbed a vanilla ice cream sample to go. Seriously, this was the perfect size of ice cream for me and I really enjoyed it. It was a nice way to top off a great run.
 
 
Today’s long run was a great way to cap off my peak week in training before Blue Ridge. The next two weeks I will decrease my mileage. I also have two races coming up over the next two weekends, but I do not actually plan to race either one of them. They will both be for fun!
 
Do you have a trail that you love?
 
Have you ever been to Chick-fil-a? What’s your favorite thing to get?
The Chargrilled chicken sandwich and a lemonade!
 
Do you ever run races just for fun or as training runs?
I used to run every race aiming for a PR, but in the past year I’ve started embracing running races as training runs or even just for fun. It’s a great way to break up the monotony of training for a long distance race. 
 
 

Toughen up buttercup

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Thank you for all your advice and input yesterday! Y’all definitely helped me look at it in a different way than I was thinking about it. All my brain could think was that I never run the day before a long run, not that a 3 mile run shouldn’t be enough to destroy my long run. With that being said, I took the “suck it up buttercup” route and ran an easy 3 miles this afternoon. I should note that Barry did not think I should have run today, so if my long run is a disaster tomorrow I will have no sympathy from him.

I’m still feeling tired (the sleepy kind of tired) but hopefully another night’s rest will help with that. I took it easy this morning and then I just couldn’t skip a run this afternoon with it being 53 degrees outside! That means shorts and a t-shirt!! I ran an easy 10:27/mile pace on the trail in town.

The traditional blogger-runner picture.

During mile 2 of my run I got chased by a black pomeranian-type dog. It was a small dog, probably not more than 10 pounds at the most. However, it was barking and growling like crazy and chased me down the trail. Small dogs bite, too, so I kicked gravel at it. This made it stop for a second, as I think I startled it, and then it chased me some more. So for about 2 tenths of a mile I picked it up to 8 minute pace. Shortly after this I got super dizzy, but I didn’t feel like I was too hot or anything. It was very strange, but it went away within the next half mile.

He looked like this but all black.

After my run I stopped by Magic Mart (similar to a K Mart) to pick up a few things, including these delicious things:

Sorry I failed to take a picture before opening the bag. I was hungry and they were good, and the picture was an afterthought.
 
I think it’s really pretty in town right now. All of the snow has melted around town but there’s still snow on the mountains, which looks really neat. I tried to capture it in this picture while I was stopped at the caution light.
 
See the snow on the mountains?
Speaking of traffic lights, I have been a yellow light magnet lately. It’s starting to get really ridiculous. Basically what happens is as I am approaching a green light it turns yellow right as I’m just far enough away to still have to stop. There are three stop lights that I go through in town to get to the trail, and I get stopped at each one. This same phenomenon happens to other people when they are driving and I am in the car. I guess I’m bad luck when it comes to red lights or something?

Since it’s so pretty outside today I spent some time in the backyard playing fetch with Hank and Scout. They had a blast.

“We are having so much fun!”

Hank loves to pose for pictures:

Scout enjoys chasing and “kicking” the soccer ball as well as the tennis balls and practice soft balls that we play with:

And after about 10 minutes of playing they were both tuckered out. Hank keeps his eye on the ball, though:

And then Scout decided she was thirsty and proceeded to eat what little snow was left by the camper:

Speaking of dogs, have you seen this Iams commercial? I think there’s a newer Iams commercial now, but this one is so cute. Especially right at the very end! Irish Wolfhounds are sooo big! 
 
 

If that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will.

Is it looking like spring, yet, where you live?

Do you like sourdough pretzels?
They’re my favorite kind of pretzel!

What are your weekend plans? Doing anything special for Easter?

Runner vs. Jogger

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So I didn’t end up getting to run yesterday. I was already in a little bit of a bind because when I got to the hotel I found out the gym didn’t open until 6 AM. That didn’t exactly mesh with my plans to run 5 miles and the fact that I needed to leave the hotel by 7:15 AM. But I was willing to shorten my run to 3-4 miles to deal with the time constraint. This wouldn’t have been such a problem if I were a faster runner, but I digress.

 
So I get down to the hotel gym at 5:57 AM and lo and behold there’s some guy already running along on the only treadmill. I was not happy, but hey he has as much right as I do. I just felt like I followed the hotel’s rules, but got gypped because someone else didn’t. The gym also had an elliptical and a stationary bike in it. I had ridden the elevator down with a gentleman who was also headed to the gym. We had had a brief conversation on the elevator about what each of us planned to do, and he had already said he was planning to use the elliptical. When we got to the gym door and saw someone was already on the treadmill I just told him “Oh well, enjoy your workout” and headed back upstairs. I did check the gym again at 6:15 and the guy was still on the treadmill. Running outside wasn’t an option, as it was still dark, I don’t think I was in an area that you should go running by yourself in, and I only had shorts and a t-shirt (it was 38 degrees outside).

Needless to say, I was a little grumpy about the whole situation and not being able to get my run on as planned. I had also had a bad nights sleep, as my hotel room was right across from the elevators (which made a loud “DING” every time they opened) and the ice machine (which I’m pretty sure made ice all night long, dropping one cube at a time). Not exactly good sleeping conditions for the girl who’s used to complete silence at night.

My meeting for work went well, though, and we got to tour the USNS Comfort in the afternoon. It’s one of two hospital ships that the U.S. has. That was really neat, and I took a bunch of pictures. I’m planning to do a full post about that sometime this weekend. Our tour wrapped up at 4:30 PM and I hit the road to make the 6 hour trek back home. Yesterday was a 14.5 hour workday for me.

 
I was really sleepy all day today from all of the driving, but I definitely wanted to get a run in after work since I couldn’t run yesterday. I had a Luna bar for a pre-run snack and then I ran 6 easy miles on the trail in town, at 10:09 pace. It’s a really nice day outside today (45 degrees and a little cloudy) and there were actually a number of people out on the trail today.

At one point I passed a family (mom, dad, 4 young kids) and the one little girl said “look, a runner!” as I went by. Then I heard the mom say “no honey, that’s a jogger”. Ouch. I guess I should wear an old race bib during my training runs to distinguish myself. 🙂

Towards the end of my run I also had a lady yell out of her car “stop running!”. When I glanced back she yelled “sorry!” and then laughed. It was very random and very bizarre.

I need your help/guidance/opinions on something. I’m not quite sure what to do for my weekly mileage this week. The plan was to run 4 Tuesday, 5 Wednesday, 4 Thursday, and 13 on Saturday. This week was supposed to be my “peak week” before the Blue Ridge Half. I did 6 miles today, in the hopes of doing a shorter 3 mile run tomorrow (instead of doing 5 today, 4 tomorrow). However, usually if I run the day before a long run, especially my longest long run in training, I feel bad during my long run. I’m torn whether to just do 3 miles nice and easy tomorrow morning and rest the remainder of the day (I’m off work tomorrow), or to just rest before my Saturday long run. If I choose the latter, I would have the option of running 3 miles on Sunday if I felt up to it. I’m pretty sure missing one 3 mile run is not going to ruin my training for the half marathon, but it bugs me that I may not get in the miles on what’s meant to be my highest mileage in training. Decisions, decisions…..

Do you sleep well in hotels?

Ever been on/toured a Navy ship?


Do you eat Luna Bars? What’s your favorite flavor?
I like the Lemon Zest and Oatmeal Raisin flavors. There’s also one called Blueberry Bliss that’s really good, but I can’t ever find it at the store.

How do you define runner vs. jogger?

I’m with Dr. George Sheehan… the difference between a runner and a jogger is a race entry blank. I don’t care how fast or slow you are, if you run races you are a runner.

What do you think I should do about my weekly mileage for this week?
 
 

A (mostly) progressive run

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I was able to get my run done early this afternoon at 1PM before traveling for a meeting. Normally I’m out and about all day during work and unable to be home at lunch time, but more on that in a second.

I did a 4 mile progressive run with Barry on the roads around our house. This was a tough run. Usually I do my progressive runs on the trail in town, which is not near as hilly as it is by our house. I think it was hillier on the way back for today’s out and back, which made dropping my pace more difficult.

Mile 1- 10:16

Mile 2- 9:50
Mile 3- 9:25
Mile 4- 9:29 (oops, ran out of gas at the end)

The overall average pace of the run was 9:45/mile. The last progressive run I did was 2 weeks ago and was a 4 mile run. It was on the trail in town and my average pace was 9:33/mile with the last mile being 8:53. Either I wimped out today or running here at the house was more challenging. I’m going with the latter 🙂

So the reason I could run during lunch time was that I have to travel to the coast this afternoon for a meeting tomorrow. It’s a 6 hour trek over to Norfolk, so I was actually home at lunch time to get my stuff for overnight.

That means I’ll be treadmilling it on the hotel treadmill in the morning. I’m going to get my run done in the morning since I’ll be driving home tomorrow evening after the meeting, and I probably won’t get home until after 9.

Do you ever do progressive runs? What do you think of them?

How do you get your run/workout in when you have to travel?