Garmin 405 Course Feature

We went to Hickory Hills park last night to try out the Course feature on my Garmin Forerunner 405. This is a beautiful park situated within Iowa City near Regina School. This park is like a forest with lots of hills. There are hiking trails where you can get easily lost.

Transfering the course to the Garmin was not straight forward. Transfering the course from the computer to the Garmin was only possible using Google-Chrome; using Internet Explorer was not an option. Also, I wasn't able to put more than one course in the Garmin.

We drove to Regina High School and turned the Garmin on after parking the car. Walked to the beginning of the course, and the Garmin was able to show me which direction I needed to run. There were a couple of useful screens on the Garmin that showed me which way I needed to go. This is a very cool feature of the Garmin watch that not many people use.

Legend of the Fall

Happy Thanksgiving Day! Headed to Regina High School to register for The Legend of the Fall early in the morning. This trail race is organized to honor late Coach Bob Brown who died of pancreatic cancer. The race starts at Regina track and goes through Hickory Hill park. I talked to Ross K and Kellie T before the race. Kellie had both of her legs full of scratches because of running the course yesterday. That looked scary to me. Weather was perfect for running.

I stood next to Kellie and Robin on the track at the beginning of the race trying to figure out a strategy. Race started at 8:00 AM. Took the left side of the track to pass a few slower runners. The trail went downhill and then flat. I was breathing very heavily. Saw some good runners in front of me and knew I was going too fast, so I tried to run more conservative. There were several hills --going up was extremely challenging and going down was a bit scary, since speed can get really fast. I got so tired at mile 2.64 that I had to walk up a hill. I was amazed by this 9-yr old kid running by me (Bryson Canton). Although most of the race I was ahead of him, he passed me and I wasn't able to catch him up at the end.
I also saw Kellie T when the long and the short courses met. But although I tried to catch up to her, she finished too fast for me. Finished in less than 30 min --more like 29:16.  I was happy with my chronos (7:19 MM pace). This was probably the last race of the year.

Glucose Levels

My blood tests are ready. Unfortunately, glucose was higher than last time (105 and 100). Is my diet that bad?  Definitely it was a bad idea to visit McDonalds right after my blood test, glad I didn't visit him before the test. I am sure everybody I know will testify that I exercise enough. So, it has to be my diet.  When there are cookies around, I know I am the only one who takes doubles.  I shouldn't do that.  I should cut the cookie in half instead! I need to change some bad habits. I am 50 yearss old and my metabolism isn't what it used to be thirty years ago.

CRWC

Thought about going swimming thinking some students were gone for Thanksgiving break. I was able to find an empty lane in the large pool. Did my 10 laps using my lap-counter. I still get pretty tired after each length, so I take a small break in between lengths. Half of the swimmers looked like Chinese students.

My calf is still tight from yesterday's long run. I had trouble walking yesterday because of my calf. It felt better today, but it is still kind of tight. I'd like to go for about four miles tomorrow. I should be OK.

Synergy Gym

Took Sophia to her gymnastics class this morning. This place is run by a couple of Russian gymnasts that were olympic athletes and University of Iowa coaches. The place in North Liberty was full of beautiful young girls of different ages. They also hire some staff to help run the place. Sophia enjoyes her class very much. She is petite but strong and flexible. Can't wait to see her doing more advanced exercises. Of course, they must take years to learn. Sophia trains on Saturdays only. Probably, she can do more during the summer. Maybe she can combine swimming and gymnastics.
Dmitri Trouch said hi to me (see 7:24 min). He is the father of Assen's classmate at Borloug and one of the owners of Synergy Gym. I have seen some videos of his performances and he is just incredible.
I also took Assen swimming at the Field House last night. There were about six children in his sophomore class. They had two instructors. I did not count how many laps they swam, but for sure, they did more than what I can do. Assen also swims only once a week. Assen is not the best swimmer in the group, but he has been slowly improving. He is good at backstroke, but he stops and turns around everyother stroke... There was a young girl swimming like a fish. She looked older in the water. But she looked like eleven or twelve when she was outside the water.

Echinaceae

coneflower

We are writing a book chapter on natural and synthetic alkamides: application in pain therapy. Interestingly, one of the most interesting fat-soluble alkamides is found in Echinaceae, and it is abundant in my backyard. This plant is known as coneflower. It is common in central and north america.

Chile

Flew to DFW from CID, then Santiago and Concepcion. The flight from DFW to Santiago was about 9.5 hrs. Sitting down in an airplane seat for that long is a real accomplishment. Spent a few hours in Santiago airport andadjusted my watch to Santiago's time. I saw books of Roberto Ampuero and Alberto Fuguet in the airport libraries.
Met my old friends Carlos and David Seigler. Drove to Talca where we had a wonderful meeting at the Universidad de Talca. Made some new friendships and learned a few things. They had a couple of cultural events and a great banquet where the young people danced like crazy. Visited their Jardin Botanico and took many pictures of their plants.

Lab Results

These lab results are not from my own research lab.  They are results from my annual blood test. These are the things where I did not do well:
Creatinine, 1.4 (too high). This is a sign of kidney malfunctioning.
Calculated GFR, 54 (too low)
Glucose, 100 (1 mg/dL too high!)
Anion GAP, 7 (low)
What can I do? Things are starting to missfunction! I guess, I need to watch my diet more closely and make a few changes. Any suggestions are welcome!

Milagros Socorro

I have been enjoying getting to know the Venezuelan writer Milagros Socorro for the last few weeks. I have learned a few things from her. We are fortunate to have this International Writers Program here at the University of Iowa. We have a unique opportunity to get to know international writers, particularly some from Latinamerica! I am eager to read more books now.