August 19, 2009

The Good Old Days, 30 Years Ago...

Seabees are once again on my mind. 30 years ago I was serving in the Seabees as a BU3, 3rd class petty officer with Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Five, aka; NMCB 5 deployed to Diego Garcia, for an 8 month stay. We worked long days and long weeks, which left little time for recreation. I was 20 years old and caught up in the jogging and running boom of that time. The recreation department on Diego Garcia had an incentive program to promote running on the island. You were to receive an embroidered patch once you ran a total of 100 miles and another for 500 miles. I set about running and logging in the miles I ran. I received the 100 and 500 mile patches and though there was no 1000 mile patch, decided I would go for the 1000 miles. I was moving very close to the 1000 number and also close to leaving the island, though the 1000 mark was surely doable for me. During my final week on the island, I just quit running. I lost interest and decided I was tired of it all. I had some great runs and memories there and I still have the runners diary that I kept back then in 1979. I finished up at something like 973 miles. Short of the 1000 mark, but having learned that it wasn't about just the number it was about the day to day effort and each experience that I had. I sometimes wish I had ran those last 27 miles or so to get to 1000, though it's no great regret. I am 50 now, and I still keep records of my runs and workouts. I look back now and then at my old runners diary from 1979 and read through what I wrote 30 years ago. I can remember some of those days vividly and can even re live some of those runs in my mind. Looking back, those were the good old days. I hope to look back at what I am doing today, perhaps 30 years from now, when I am 80 and if I do I am sure that these days will become the good old days.

TODAY'S WORKOUT
M
Bike: 30 minutes, 9+ miles, stationary. Medium effort.
Run: 55 minutes, 5 miles, road. Slow jog.