Nolichucky Swim Team

Have Gun Will Travel
My kayaking friend John was a trip coordinator for a paddling trip on the Nolichucky over the first weekend in May. The Nolichucky is a class III-IV river in North Carolina and Tennessee. It is a long eight mile run, parts of which are challenging. The toughest parts are in the first two miles, so if you have problems, you could have a long day. The Noli is also remote. Once you start, you are committed.

I told John that I wanted to join the trip since I had a new Wavesport Diesel 70, a much bigger boat than I had the one other time I had run the Noli. The Diesel can handle fairly big holes, which would be very helpful on the Noli.

I also carpooled with John. When I arrived at his house, as a joke he showed me a pellet gun that he wanted to bring (back story: on recent trip, a guy I carpooled with was seriously thinking of bringing a real handgun. What the heck FOR?!).

Since John didn't have the roof rack installed on his car, we loaded up my CR-V. We were on our way in record time, all loaded up and on the road in under 15 minutes.

We hit horrible bump and grind traffic on I-40 around Greensboro and Winston Salem. Even with the bad traffic and a dinner stop, we still got to the Nolichucky Gorge Campground a little after 9 pm. This made the campground manager happy since he doesn't like people to arrive too late at night.

We selected a camp site on the river. This was the first time John had a river side site in the campground. It worked out well since it would get sun in the morning.

It was a mostly clear night and I saw a shooting star (it was supposed to be a peak night for a meteor shower). There was a crescent moon over the river and you could see the entire sphere of the moon. A clear sky meant that it got cold. Everyone knew to bring ear plugs since frogs were making a lot of noise and the coal train runs throughout the day and night. The train's brakes make horrible screeching sounds when the train comes around the bend.

Saturday Noli - Introducing the Swim Team
The paddling group was going to meet at 11:15 am on Saturday. This would allow people to drive up in the morning if they didn't want to camp Friday night. John and I went to McDonald's in Erwin Tennessee to have breakfast and to use free Wifi. We couldn't believe the LONG line at the drive thru and that a lot of the people waiting in the drive thru were puffing on cigarettes.

When we went back to the campground, I killed time by reading, gathering up gear, and making my lunch.

The Nolichucky was around 1300 cfs, a perfect level. Our group on Saturday consisted of: Rich from Asheville, Ken from near Columbia SC, Jim and Kat from Raleigh, John from Durham, and myself from Apex.

The shuttle for the Nolichucky is very long. Normally paddlers pay $20 to hire a local shuttle driver. We couldn't fit all the boats, people, and gear onto one car, so we needed two drivers. One person in the group said "So, $40 divided by 6 is...$5 each." Well, not really.

When we got to the put in, we had to negotiate sucking mud and gnats. Luckily the gnats were not an issue once we were on our way.
Entrance rapid and On the Rocks were not problem for me and my hole munching Diesel. It was going to be a great day!

Rich, however, swam at On the Rocks. I got his paddle and threw it on the bank on river right. Rich was out of the water on river right and Jim pushed his boat to the bank. We yelled at Rich to GRAB his boat since it the current was taking the boat. We weren't really in an eddy and the next rapid Jaws was just ahead. Rich then fell into the river, so he had to be rescued again. Rich's boat also went downstream. Jim and I corralled Rich's boat on river left, Rich was on river right. Using a carabiner I loaned to Jim, Jim towed Rich's boat across the river. John had to go upstream and retrieve the paddle I tossed on the rocks.

Ken also swam at On the Rocks, but it wasn't nearly as dramatic.

Jacked By Hungry Jack
We all got out to scout Quarter Mile rapid. The tricky part is the entrance, the rest is mostly class III boogie water (about a quarter mile long) where you dodge rocks and holes. The very end is Murphy's ledge, which is a three-foot river-wide ledge. At the entrance you have to get on a tongue of water and eddy out, then you can line yourself up and continue with the rest of the rapid. John got in his boat and showed us how to do it.

I got back into my boat and started off. I was too far left and missed the tongue. I was quickly turned around and flipped. I was bounced up and down while upside down and I was going right for Hungry Jack, a large hole you don't want to be in. I wasn't in a good spot to roll, so I bailed out of the boat.

John was the only person in his boat and came out after me. Both my boat and I went into Hungry Jack, which luckily spat me out and didn't recirculate me. John said that this was the first place I yelled "OW" since I was smacked against a rock. This is also likely where my boat was dented. John said my boat went into Hungry Jack, came up on its stern and then was smacked on a rock.

For almost the entire rapid I was bounced off of rocks and went into and out of holes. See the human pinball! My knees were banged up pretty bad and at the end, were bruised and swollen. John kept coming over so that I could grab the back of his boat. I did NOT want to go over Murphy's ledge. We got separated several times and John was in parts of the rapid he really didn't want to be in. I kicked, but the current was strong. Eventually I got to shore, at the last eddy before the ledge.

John then chased after my boat. After spending a few minutes crawling over rocks and trying to avoid poison ivy on the shore, I eventually walked up the rocks to the railroad tracks. When I saw John and my boat, I scrambled down to the river. That's when I saw the huge dent in my boat.

After seeing what happened, the rest of the group carried their boats over rocks to avoid the entrance move.

On Sunday I met a rafting group at the take out. One guy asked "That was you swimming yesterday?" "Yes" I said. "Oh, we felt bad for you. That had to hurt.".

Since both the boat and I were banged up, I decided not to deal with Rooster Tail rapid. I got out before the rapid and climbed up the bank to the railroad track. It was a tough portage.

No one swam in Rooster Tail, but John did his usual line on Rooster Tail: he flipped and rolled.

By this time I discovered that my choice of paddling clothes was poor. I wore Neoprene shorts and top and a spray jacket. I was in the cold water a long time, the wind was kicking up, and it became cloudy. I was COLD.

At the take out, John said I was a "trooper" for paddling it out to the end in a banged up boat. I said "Did I really have a choice?"

User Error
When we were back to the campground, I called the dealer where I bought my boat just six weeks before: Endless Rivers Adventures. It looked like my boat was ruined, so I wanted to see what might be covered under a warranty. I identified myself and said that I recently bought a boat AND signed up for their Thanksgiving Costa Rica trip. Ken, one of the owners, said that this was a "user error". This is ironic since I am a software tester! My coworkers laughed and said "Gee, even on weekends your defects are returned".

Ken dismissively said that "No material could withstand that sort of impact." Too bad. How sad. "If you put it in the sun, it MIGHT pop out". I didn't believe it.

Local Cuisine and Audry Saves the Day
For dinner Saturday, Jim recommended a local restaurant that has home cooking (translation: tasty, but expect a lot of calorie bombs). I was drawn to the "pan fried" chicken, which was very good. I lessened the damage by having a salad and baked potato rather than mashed potatoes or the various fried side items. I don't think green beans really count as a vegetable if they are cooked in fat back.

After dinner Jim had us going all over Erwin Tennessee. He kept telling us a story of how in the past an elephant killed a man and they hung the elephant as punishment. Several of the stores were supposed to reference this event, but we never saw anything.

We then got lost on the side streets. I drove, so I turned on "Audry", the GPS. Audry took us right to the campground. Everyone laughed when Audry said "arriving at Noli Gorge Campground". "She SOUNDS like a paddler (Noli is the nickname for the Nolichucky. I didn't want to type Nolichucky into the GPS).

Shuttle Driver
I woke up Sunday morning feeling like someone beat me with a rubber hose. Jim offered to switch boats around so that I could use John's Diesel, but I didn't want to damage someone else's boat. I was bruised and sore, so I figured it was best to be conservative. This was a good call since there were seven swims in the group Sunday, three of which were at at same time.

Jim graciously fed us all ham and eggs. I showed Kat the wonders of a French Press, which made better coffee than her instant coffee.

Bob Wiggins and his son Bob from Asheville were joining the group Sunday. Bob has a huge ancient diesel Suburban that seems to be held together by rust. But it's the perfect paddling shuttle vehicle since Bob said he could fit ten boats on it. Since I decided not to paddle Sunday, I would drive shuttle. Everyone appreciated it and jokingly asked if I wanted $20. "Nah, paying it forward with karma points." Driving the beast up the mountains was quite a challenge. The seat couldn't be adjusted and I could barely press the gas pedal. It was so loud, people would look when I went by. I brought Audry along to make sure I didn't get lost on the mountain roads.

I went into town to have lunch and to use the Wifi at McDonald's. I dried out gear, napped, etc.

It was getting to be about 4 pm and I was getting worried. The group was on the water at 11:00 am. Where WERE they?!

Finally Kat and Jim showed up. Kat shook her head and said "It was quite an adventure". Bob had broken his wooden paddle at Jaws and swam, plus there were many other swims.

Throughout the day, I had my boat out in the sun on my roof rack. I had the dented part exposed to the sun. Nearly 90% of the dent popped out by the time Kat showed up. I asked if she believed in miracles and showed her the boat. Everyone was amazed by the self healing boat. It's battle scarred with scratches, but at least it can be used.

Conclusion
It was a really fun group to paddle with. At some point we will have a reunion of the Nolichucky swim team and run the river again as a group. John said that I would have the award for the "longest" and "ugliest" swim. In total there were five swims on Saturday, seven on Sunday.

Click here for more photos.

Gator Half

DH and I drove to Florida last Friday. When I was packing up all of my gear for the Gator Half, I started to  wonder how the heck I'll get my cr*p to Vineman next year.  We left very early and made it to Sarasota in time for packet pickup on Friday evening. I also did a short ride to keep loose after the 12 hour drive and to make sure that the bike was fine. Then we proceeded to my in-laws' place in Englewood.

On Saturday morning, DH, his dad and I drove to the race site. We timed the drive from Englewood and made sure we were clear on where everything was. We talked to a triathlete doing a pre-race swim and checked out both the bike and run course. We also scoped out Sherpa Eating Locales so the guys had something do to while I was on the bike. On Saturday afternoon, I had a short swim at the in-laws' place and on Saturday evening we went for pizza (Mama's Italian Restaurant in Englewood), my traditional pre-race meal.

On Sunday morning, I got up at 4:50, lubed up liberally and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of Camelbak Elixir. We headed out to Ackerman Park in Sarasota for the race start and arrived at about 6 am.  That allowed time for timing chip pick up, body marking, transition set up, pre-race meeting...

There was an interesting collection of people at this event. I talked to someone who did Ironman Arizona last year and is doing Ironman Lake Placid and Ironman Florida this year (and he did the world duathlon championships in Edinburgh last year as well). I saw people with Clearwater 70.3 national championship gear on. I also talked to several people for whom this was their first half iron distance event or first Olympic distance triathlon.

The swim

The first 200 meters or so was rough for me. I started to feel like I was going to choke. I was breathing to the right which is generally my faster side. I switched to the other side and got more comfortable. I made the first turn and and decided to try breathing to the right again. Apparently, I do not swim straight when breathing to the right. Fortunately my spot forwards were good and I was able to make a correction before I got too far off line.

DH said that the safety kayakers had to go and get some people who were way way off course in the middle of the lake.  Whoops!

I continued around, breathing to the left (figuring that it was best to stay on course!) and made the next two turns. Then I was heading to where we started and the sun was higher. I could not see the buoy at all. I could see the picnic table there and headed toward that. Good plan. I finally saw the buoy when I was right on top of it. It was one of the giganto buoys too!

The second lap proceeded pretty much the same way, except my goggles started to leak. I specifically chose to use my older goggles because they've never leaked (instead of the new goggles that I'm still getting adjusted)! Again, it was disconcerting to swim into the sun and not be able to see. After passing the start area for the second time, I continued a little further to reach the swim exit.

The bike

Fun course! Scenic, flat, few turns, mostly very good road surfaces as compared to North Carolina roads.

I had a some fig newtons almost as soon as I got onto the bike. The bike has been pre loaded with my nutrition so I ate when planned and drank frequently.  I picked up a plain water at the first bottle exchange near mile 20. I tried to pick up a second plain water at the second bottle exchange. I said water but got Heed. Probably my fault. It was warmer weather than I have been training in. I went ahead and had the Heed rather than get dehydrated. It was fine. I ate more than I did at Beach2Battlehsip but I was in better shape afterward than I was at the B2B HIM.  By the end of the bike it was starting to get hot.

The run

When I previewed the course on Saturday, I thought to myself, well, the bike is scenic. The course was through an office park and around a lake/retention pond. That makes some amount of sense since there would be pretty much no traffic on a Sunday. As it turned out, I really liked the course. There was a tiny bit of shade through the office park and there was a breeze around the pond. There were enough water stations to keep cool and it was nice that we did two loops because we went by DH twice.

First lap of the run.

I had a Hammer Gel just before the mile 1 water station and then again at about mile 5 and mile 10 (always just before water stations). I had at least one dixie cup of water at each water station and often two cups (volunteers started to hand out water two cups at at time). I ran the whole course -- except walking water stations to drink rather than spill. I did get progressively slower during the run but overall I am happy with how I did.  When I got to the car, the temp said 88 degrees.

After the half ironman, with medal and gator jambalaya in hand

I enjoyed this event and I'd certainly consider coming back and doing it again another time.

Gator Done medal and 4th place plaque

Hannah

Hannah is gone. Good bye, sweet girl. You will always be in my heart.

Words cannot do my feelings justice.

Hannah through the years August 5, 1994 - March 15, 2011

First marathon

Done

Completed

Successful

Friday

DH and I took the day off and drove down to Jacksonville for 26.2 with Donna:  The National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer.

Saturday

On Saturday, we went to the race expo and checked in. The expo was very good. Check in was quick, the race shirt is really nice and the volunteers were cheerful and helpful. DH and I also did a little bit of reconnaissance -- confirmed where the bus from the hotel area to the race start was, confirmed that the beach was hard packed as advertised and so on. My parents and my in-laws were both coming into Jacksonville for the race so we gathered some course info for them as well.

On Saturday evening, we went Mellow Mushroom for a pre race meal.  Pizza, as usual!

Race Day

On Sunday morning, I got up at 5:00, lubed up liberally in an effort to avoid chafing and then ate a bagel with peanut butter and a banana and drank a bottle of Camelbak Elixir to get some electrolytes into my system. I had a little bit of coffee from the hotel lobby and I walked across the street to get a shuttle bus to the race start. I got into line at about 5:30 and we arrived at the Mayo Clinic for the race start at about 6:00.

At about 6:30 or a little before, they herding us to the corrals. They had four corrals. The half and full marathon runners went in together according to color codes they had on our bibs. In other words, 4 hour marathoners and 2 hour half marathoners were mixed together.

The race started a few minutes late. They were obviously checking with police to make sure that the roads were clear and we started as soon as the organizers got the all clear. It 40 degrees when the race started (60 degrees when I finished).

It was also neat that the start of the race was broadcast on TV. My peeps watched the TV coverage and then went outside and saw me.  (This is where it helps that the event is 26.2 with Donna and Donna is a news anchor on a local station and Mr. Donna is a weatherman at a local station.  As a result, the races has excellent media coverage.)

The course started at Mayo Clinic and crossed the intracoastal waterway in the first two miles.  The first (and last) three miles were on a (closed) expressway.  By mile five we were on the beach.
The run out to the beach was fun and included highlighted by helicopter flyovers for TV and plenty of cars honking in support of the thousands of runners.  The spectator support was amazing!  The 2.5 miles run on the beach were beautiful.

On the beach just after mile 7

The hotel that we stayed at was on the course near mile 7 and mile 19. I saw my family on the beach just after mile 7. They cheered and I waved. That was neat. Throughout the race I kept on counting down when to have Gu or when I would see my family during the race.

Just after mile 19

The run went really really well until mile 16. Then my legs started to complain a little bit. About this time I started to dislike the marathon relay teams. I mean really dislike them. The relay people looked so fresh and perky, having run about one mile since the exchange at Mile 15, and my legs were feeling somewhat less than fresh and perky. I kept on telling myself, less than 30 minutes until I see my peeps again (at mile 19). Then it was less than a mile to the next Gu. 10k to go. Back onto the expressway to the finish. With about 2 miles to go I could see the finish. There's Mayo Clinic. Right there. The finish. Up the bridge. It's all downhill from here. The finish should be just around the corner. I hope the finish is just around the corner. There it is!

I checked the race results and over 1600 marathon runners finished, along with over 4000 half marathoners plus 214 marathon relay teams (5 people per team).

I thought that the organization and crowd support were superb. The expo was great as was the runner support on the course. Water stations were well stocked, port-a-pots plentiful, Gu available, etc.

I would definitely do this event again. I would definitely recommend it to a friend.

The Septembers of Shiraz: A Novel by Dalia Sofer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book was excellent.  I had a hard time putting it down.  It is beautifully written.  In some ways, this book reminds me of The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri -- language and style, caught between  cultures.

The story takes place in post-Revolutionary Iran and tells the story of a Jewish family -- Isaac, Farnaz, Shirin and Paviz -- living in Tehran.  Told in the voice of each of these family members, this suspenseful story begins when Isaac, a gemologist with associations to the Shah, is arrested by the Revolutionary Guard.  Early in the book, "Back in his cell, Isaac thinks of Rez and the thousands of revolutionaries like him -- men and women who thought they were part of something big, much bigger than their daily lives -- who thought they were changing the course of history.  And here they are, having replace crowns with turbans." (101)

Isaac is an educated man with knowledge of both Persian and Western literature.  When he was in prison, he thought of poems, including The Lake Isle of Innisfree by W.B. Yeats and the Teachings of Hafiz (239) -- interestingly, Hafiz (also known as Hafez) was born in Shiraz.

(from The Lake Isle of Innisfree)

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made...

(from Teachings of Hafiz)

Can drunkenness be linked to piety
And good repute?
Where is the preacher's holy monody,
Where is the lute?

Later in the book (294), Isaac recites another section from the Teachings of Hafiz.  This time he recites to his father


Be not too sure of your crown, you who thought
That virtue was easy and recompense yours;
From the monastery to the wine-tavern doors
The way is nought

from The Divan of Hafiz (337)

Not all the sum of earthly happiness
Is worth the bowed head of a moment's pain

The book also has other art and religious themes throughout.  For example, the theme of the ghazal, a form of poetry.  "Five couplets, at the minimum, but no more than twelve usually.  The first couplet establishes a rhyme followed by a refrain, a scheme repeated by the second line of each succeeding couplet.  Each couplet should stand on its own, but must also be part of the whole.  At the end, the poet often invokes himself...'So what happens at the end, Baba?' and he had said, 'There is no end, Shirin-jan.  That's the first thing you should learn about ghazals.  There is no resolution.  Imagine the speaker simply throwing his hands in the air.'" (178-179)" 

Farnaz borrows a sixteenth-century miniature painting from an antique dealer.  She asks the dealer about the history of the piece.   "'That's the sad part of the story.  In 1962 an American collector bought it, and he had the audacity to rip pages out of the book and sell them individually.  He sold some to a museum in New York, others to private collectors.'

"She looks at the orphaned leaf, its counterparts spread around the globe, each adopted by one museum or another, or locked in a cabinet of a European or American collector who picks it up once in a while or looks at in his dime study..." (217)

Do the "orphaned leaf" represent Iranians spread around the world like pages of the book?  Does it represent American disrespect/misunderstanding of Persian culture?

This is only the tip of the iceberg.  There is a lot going on in this book (alcohol: banned after the Revolution, Isaac's father was an alcoholic -- apathy, fermented and distilled (106), Isaac's brother Javad was a bootlegger; Why didn't Farnaz send Parviz the money Isaac promised him?  She gave $10,000 to Javad and nothing to her son.; fundamentalist Jews and fundamentalist Islamics; 'worship' of Western culture)

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