OOP (Only On the Philipines) -- The Safety Issue!!

No doubt safety is critical aspect of nearly everything we do. That doesn't apply just to Americans, but I think everyone considers safety extremely importance. What may differ from person to person and country to country is how we define "safety" and what we determine to be "safe". Take for instance riding on the roof of a car. Not something I would do, but I suppose as long as you are sitting down, it's not the most dangerous thing you could be doing.

When using heavy equipment, most would say to only use it for its intended purpose. Using a forklift to pull a barge into place is not something I would suggest, but there if you are able to hook the two together, then at least be sure you use a strong enough chain.
My idea of safety head gear, when working around large machines or when something could fall on you, would be a hard hat of some sorts. The gentleman in this picture decided that a towel would be sufficient. I suppose the rational was that if he did experience massive head trauma, at least the towel would soak up the blood.
Safety shoes are critical in just about every manual labor type of operation. Steel-toed shoes are ideal, but I suppose that at least tennis shoes cover your feet completely. When you are really in a pinch though, go with flip-flops as they at least protect the bottom of your feet should you step on something sharp, but not big enough to pinch the 1/4 inch thick foam. Also in this "two-for" you see that a baseball cap can sub for a hard hat, but only if you have tennis shoes. If you are wearing a hard-hat though, it appears flip flops are okay.
Closer inspection reveals that wearing the flip flops is in fact optional.
Again, I think safety is part of everyone's work and lives. I doubt most people intentionally do unsafe things. How we determine what is safe is really up to interpretation. Keep it safe, everybody!

The Strong Mariner

A brief break from running for a moment to talk about my recent trip to Subic Bay. The Strong Mariner arrived in port, and I was responsible for loading it. Okay, I didn't actually physically load anything, but I did supervise, watch and take some pictures. It came in very early in the morning which means we had to be up even earlier. It did give me the great opportunity to get a cool shot of the crane getting ready.

Here's a shot of the Strong Mariner being tugged (pushed) into position along the pier. It was definitely a rust bucket, but she stayed afloat.
Here's a shot of the the first boat being craned onto the ship. It was a very long and slow process, but when you are lifting something that big, that heavy, and that expensive, you have to be careful about it.
Here's another shot of the boat being craned onto the Strong Mariner, this time from the top deck of the ship. It took nearly an hour from the time the boat was strapped to the crane until it was safely on the ship.
Not really related to the Strong Mariner, but since I was dealing with the Navy I thought I should also show you this picture. My Navy brethren, preparing for their 1 hour and 45 minute flight out of the Philippines, decided to set up their hammocks. You'll notice them lined up along the containers, going all the way back. The other side of the containers were identical with hammocks lined up along that side.
So the loading of the Strong Mariner was a success, and my time in Subic Bay was very enjoyable. The one downside, was that while loading the ship, the only pair of running shoes I brought with me to Subic fell apart. I had several hundred miles on them so it wasn't a complete surprise or disappointing (aside from the fact that I really liked them). Unfortunately, it left me with only my Vibram 5-Fingers to run in; which I did, once, without socks, which left me with large blisters on my toes, and put an end to my running in Subic. Not to worry, I more than made up for the lost miles this week.

9 Months and 1100 Miles (Week 39)

I think it's safe to say that barring any freak accident, I'm going to make my 1200 mile running goal this year. With 91 days left in the year, my new "goal" is to make it all the way to 1500. That means for the remainder of the year I'll have to run just over 4 miles a day; a very realistic goal for me to attain. This week I really pushed myself to get a lot of runs in the day; possibly more than I should have. In addition to running every day morning before work there were a couple of evenings were I ran as a warm up to my second workout of the day. After Sunday's run, I was completely wiped out, so for the remaining 13 weeks in the year, i should incorporate a few breaks, and keep the running to once a day. Still, it was one of my best weeks of running for the year both in average pace and total distance. It took its toll on me, but I think it was worth it.

My Week 39 (26 Sep - 2 Oct) Totals are as follows:

Total Runs Logged: 9

Total Miles: 48.2

Total Time Spent Running: 5 hours 59 minutes, 16 seconds

Average Pace: 7:27 (min/mile)

With a great week of running to cap off the month of September and looking back at the past three months; I'd say it has been pretty good for running. My totals from July 4th through October 2nd are:

Total Runs Logged: 68

Total Miles: 373.5

Total Time Spent Running: 47 hours, 19 minutes, 23 seconds

Average Pace: 7:36 (min/mile)

This brings my total miles in 2011 to: 1121.8

REFLECTION TIME: Well to make my goal of 1500 miles in 2011, I essentially need to duplicate what I did the past three months. It is doable, but hopefully, I can plan to be more consistent in my runs so that I'm not killing myself in the weekly mileage to hit 1500 as 2012 nears. In the past three months, there were 5 weeks where I didn't hit 25 miles. To get to 1500, I'll need to average about 28 miles per week. With easy access to a treadmill and the time to do it, I shouldn't have too hard a time doing it.

The Flood and BBC Houston

With one day left in what is turning out to be a stellar running week, I thought I would provide some much promised pictures of my continued adventures in the Philippines. If you haven't been following the weather in the Pacific over the past couple of weeks or so, you will have missed that the island of Luzon in the Philippines (where Manila is located) was recently hit by two typhoons. The first one was a direct hit across the island and dumped a to ton of rain. Meanwhile in Mindanao, it didn't rain a drop the same day the storm was passing through. I luckily wasn't in Manila, but these pictures were sent to me from the Embassy.

A few weeks prior to the typhoons, I was actually on the island of Luzon in Subic where in addition to running outside with my GPS for the first time, I also did some work. The BBC Houston came into port, and I was tasked with unloading or discharging its cargo. Definitely a cool experience for me because as an Air Force guy, I don't spend my time around ships. This was my first time to be on a port and download a ship. Thankfully there were a lot of qualified people who knew what they were doing, and kept the operation moving very smoothly. Here the BBC Houston is being pushed by the tugs so it can dock next to the pier.

Shortly after it was tied to the pier, we started offloading the cargo with the ships cranes. This is a picture of the deck where our cargo was stored for the ocean voyage that had to be offloaded.
The Stevedores in the yellow shirts and hard hats were responsible for hooking up the cargo to the crane and unhooking it once it was safely on the pier. Our crew seemed fairly professional and knew what they were doing. They were actually wearing hard hats and closed-toe shoes unlike another crew also on the pier who were wearing basketball jerseys and flip flops (a potential liability you really don't want to mess with).

Most of the cargo came off without difficulty, but the primary reason for the ship operation and the most challenging aspect of the ship's discharge were the two boats that had to be lifted out of the ship and placed on the dock. Each weighed more than 60 tons and was more than 85 feet long. It was a slow and very meticulous process. We started lifting the first boat when it was still light outside, but by the time it had appeared over the ship, it was dark.

The shot abovand below were actually taken with my camera phone. For whatever reason its flash was working better resulting in better pictures than the ones from the point and shoot camera I had been using all day. Below is another shot of the boat, this time being turned 90 degrees so it could fit between the ship's cranes and be placed on the pier.
All in all a fun and exciting first time experience. Again, thankfully there were enough experts there to make sure the operation happened smoothly, safely, and without serious incident. It made for a long day, but it was definitely worth while. The weather was perfect the entire day which made me thankful the ship didn't try to come in last week with the typhoon creating havoc on Luzon.

First Running, Then Pics (Weeks 37 & 38)

I spent nearly all of Week 37 in Subic Bay which afforded me the tremendous opportunity of running on the road and using my GPS. One of the fun features of the Garmin Training Center is that it shows you a map of your run after your done. It's not a very detailed map, and you can see from the picture below that perhaps it's not the most accurate or current map.

I can assure you that even though I was running fast (or so I felt), I was not running on water. Still, with three good runs in Subic (and one in Zamboanga to finish off the week) Week 37 (12-18 September) was an overall good week for running.

My Week 37 totals were:

Total Runs Logged: 4

Total Miles: 29.6

Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 41 minutes, 36 seconds

Average Pace: 7:29 (min/mile)

For Week 38 (19-25 September) I was back in Zam, and back to running on a treadmill. There are definitely ups and downs to the treadmill run. It does get fairly repetitive and is not super exciting, but it forces me to keep my pace up even when I'm tired and don't feel like running fast, but know I need to. Interesting? No, but with the week down, I'm even closer to my goal than I was before the week started.

The totals for Week 38 were:

Total Runs Logged: 5

Total Miles: 32.2

Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 57 minutes, 0 seconds

Average Pace: 7:21 (min/mile)

With two more weeks of 2011 done, my new totals since 4 July are:

Total Runs Logged: 59

Total Miles: 325.3

Total Time Spent Running: 41 hours, 20 minutes, 07 seconds

Average Pace: 7:37 (min/mile)

My Total Miles in 2011 thus far: 1073.6

Although the past 2 weeks were good for running, they weren't that great for my planned "Two-A-Days." It takes a great bit of effort and motivation to workout twice in one day, and with travel and work sucking up time too, it's easy to come up with an excuse not to workout. Still, I'm feeling good about my overall running, so as long as I getting my miles in each week, I have to be satisfied. My primary goal after all was to run 1200 miles this year...when I get two workouts in a day, that's a bonus.

Pictures coming very soon...stay tuned!

Fun Times in the Philippines (with Pictures!)

Okay, since my last blog was all words (a lot of them), and no pictures, I thought I would add some color to this entry with some fun pictures I've taken over the past month. I use my camera pretty frequently for work, so when I see something that could be considered a "Kodak Moment", I have my camera handy. ENJOY!

This is a Jeepney, an all too common feature of Manila and throughout the rest of the PI. This is the cheap method of transportation in a city with no subway. Although I've never used them, I've been told its easy to hop on and hop off as they go on their designated routes. I'm not sure exactly how they are made, but i think it involves stretching out a vehicle chassis and attaching whatever sheet metal happens to be handy.

Despite the ubiquity of the Jeepney, much like a subway, they can get crowded during the rush hour periods. When that happens, you cram as many as you can into the Jeepney, and the rest just hang on. Notice the Jeepney in front of the other Jeepney with people hanging on it as well.

For those "too fancy" to ride a Jeepney, there are other modes of transports. Fairly common are motor bikes with "side carts" attached to them. Most have been constructed of sheet metal and I've seen as many as 3 in them plus an extra passenger also riding on the motor bike. They must have been short on sheet metal when this one was constructed. Don't worry, the chair is attached to the side with bungees.
When you don't have a vehicle for your necessary operations (say refueling a plane), you do it the old fashioned way, by hand. As I watched this I was SO THANKFUL that when our C-17 rolled in, they actually used a truck to refuel it. Also, although this may look is unsafe, the plane is properly grounded, AND there is an ENORMOUS Fire Truck just out of the picture, that probably would have obliterated the plane if they turned the hose on it.
The last one is of me, just enjoying scenic Subic. It was super bright outside, but the picture still turned out nice (aside from the fact that I have no idea what's up with the bottom of my shirt)
Just a few snapshots of the past few weeks of my life. It's fun being out and about in the Philippines. It's also funny to see that OOG (Only On Guam) Moments also exist elsewhere (I guess they would be OOP moments here). I hope you enjoyed them, there will surely be more to follow.

On the Road Again (and On the Road Again)

With the exception of 2 days in Zamboanga, I've spent the past 2 weeks living out of hotels throughout the Philippines. I can't really complain about 4-star hotels, king size beds with fluffy pillows, and a hotel staff eager to make you stay as pleasant as possible, but it is not an ideal running environment. Eating out 3 times a day is not great for maintaining a slim physique, but it does necessitate finding ways to exercise any way you can.

During the last part Week 35 (29 Aug-4 Sep) I spent three days at the Intercontinental Hotel in Manila. It a great place to stay and the club access offers breakfast, afternoon tea, and happy hour. Essentially from 6 AM to 8 PM there are only 5 hours where you don't have the opportunity to gorge on free food and drinks. Luckily they also have a decent fitness center with multiple treadmills, elliptical machines, and free-weights. On the first day I went there the treadmills were occupied but I figured it would be worthwhile to do some cardio on an elliptical even if I couldn't count it towards my running log. The second time I used their facility I was able to jump on a treadmill and even though it proved challenging converting kilometers to miles, I still got a good workout.

All in all I was slightly off my goal for week 35, but still a good week of running overall:

Total Runs Logged: 4

Total Miles: 22.5

Total Time Spent Running: 2 hours, 41 minutes, 0 seconds
Average Pace: 7:09 (min/mile)

After a day in Angeles City with no running (I swear I was busy working), I was back in Zambo for all of 2 days before hitting the road again (or air since I actually fly to my destinations), this time to Subic Bay. During my 2 days in Zam I actually managed to squeeze in 3 runs, knowing that I would have difficulty in Subic working out.

The Segara Villas is pretty close to luxury resort living (you're staying in a VILLA after all); unfortunately with no fitness center it seems they want you relaxing not sweating. Luckily, what Subic Bay does have plenty of, is uncrowded, level streets...the perfect place to run. So I did just that, and for the first time since coming to the Philippines a month ago, I got off the treadmill, and onto the pavement. To add to the fun, I FINALLY, got to use my Garmin 405CX which was awesome to use.

My totals for Week 36 (5-11 Sep) were:

Total Runs Logged: 5

Total Miles: 28.7

Total Time Spent Running: 3 hours, 25 minutes, 17 seconds

Average Pace: 7:09 (min/mile)

With two of my fast weeks to date, my "as of totals" are:

Total Runs Logged: 50

Total Miles: 263.5

Total Time Spent Running: 33 hours, 41 minutes, 31 seconds

Average Pace: 7:40 (min/mile)

TOTAL MILES TO DATE: 1011.8

REFLECTION TIME: To be honest, I didn't even realize I had broke the 1000 mile mark until I did my calculations a few minutes ago. I know I've still got a ways to go, but nearly 4 months to get there. I shouldn't have any problem getting to 1200, but if I want to reach that 1500 mile mark, I'll have to run an average of 4.5 miles a day, every day for the rest of the year. Is it doable? Absolutely, but I've got some running to do. More than anything, I was excited that when I actually ran on the road, my pace didn't suffer. Without the treadmill to force me to run at a certain speed, I was nervous I would slow down, but over the 7 mile road run during week 36, I averaged a 7:03 pace. That is actually one of my faster times, especially for that distance, leading me to believe that the treadmill certainly didn't hinder my running goals.

New blog coming very soon with exciting pictures from the Philippines